RIP: John Romita

Comic book artist John Romita - frequently called "John Romita Sr." because his son is likewise a famous comic book artist - passed away this week on June 12, aged 93.

Romita worked at various comic book companies throughout his career but he's certainly best-remembered as a Marvel Comics artist and especially for his work on the Amazing Spider-Man. Romita spent most of the 1970s and 80s as Marvel's art director, shaping the visual look of the entire Marvel Comics line; even after he stepped down from that role he had influenced so many artists that his presence continued to be felt throughout Marvel's line. When people talk about the "Marvel look" or "Marvel style" they are almost certainly referring to Romita's designs.

As a fan of Marvel's 1950s output (particularly the era where the company was known as Atlas) Romita was one of only a handful of remaining Atlas Age artists. He worked in almost every type of story from crime, horror and western to super hero; recurring features of his included Jungle Boy, Western Kid and Captain America -- unfortunately, his Captain America stories were the arch anti-communist stories that made Cap seem so deranged that they were later excised from Cap's continuity. But his 1950s output is best-remembered for all his work in romance comics.

Romita succeeded Steve Ditko on the Amazing Spider-Man; he's been noted (and criticized) for making the cast more conventionally good-looking, swerving away from the more awkward and gangly characters Ditko had drawn. Suddenly, Peter Parker went from looking like an average guy to a teen magazine cover model! I'm certainly one who prefers Ditko's visuals but I think we spider-fans are mostly in agreement that Romita did fine work on Amazing Spider-Man as he was the first to depict Mary Jane Watson, among other landmarks (Ditko had drawn cameos of Mary Jane but hadn't revealed her face). His additions to Spider-Man's antagonists weren't all up to the standards Ditko set, but the Rhino and the Kingpin definitely proved to be durable super-villains; he also gave us the Shocker, Silvermane, Man-Mountain Marko, Hammerhead... and, admittedly, the Kangaroo and the Gibbbon. They weren't all winners.

Still, there's no doubt he was one of the best super hero comic book artists and his legacy is assured; certainly his son has likewise become one of comicdom's greatest artists. Rest in peace, Mr. Romita.

Valentine's Day at the Marvel Appendix!

I hope you had a fine Valentine's Day! I've been stepping up my involvement at the Marvel Appendix website again and for the first time, I decided to contribute special Valentine's Day themed character profiles to the site. I chose four different Atlas comics characters because, for all that's changed in how I feel about Marvel, my love for Atlas never diminishes. The four represent different aspects of the Marvel universe; one is Zelda Coyne, the first romance comics character I've added to the site; another is Gwen Saunders, the first western romance character I've added to the site; third, I covered a horror character who happened to be a great romanic, Boris Zorrel; finally, I covered the main man himself, St. Valentine!

I hope you enjoy them!

RIP Joe Sinnott

Joe Sinnott has passed away, aged 93. He was one of the all-time greatest inkers in comic books. He was especially renowned for the years he spent inking Jack Kirby, especially for inking most of the second half of Kirby's run on Fantastic Four. It's hard to overstate how important Sinnott's inks were to establishing the character of the Fantastic Four. From the craggy lines in the Thing's skin to the weird energy swirls of the Negative Zone, he provided a sense of consistency to the Fantastic Four series, returning to it again and again for about 25 years. He was so identified with Kirby's art that when Ron Frenz drew his Thor in imitation of Kirby, Sinnott inked him to exemplify the comparison.

Sinnott is especially important to me because of my fascination with Atlas Comics; in those days, Sinnott tended to both pencil and ink his work and he drew plenty of war, western and sci-fi comic books. Later in his life, he became involved with the Inkwell Awards, an organization which I've assisted by serving on their nomination committee for 10 years. Sinnott was so identified with the art of inking that his endorsement of the Inkwell Awards was a huge boon to the organization and made them a credible group. Although I never interacted with him in any of my comics gigs, I've always respected his art and it amazed me to see how long he continued to work, long past retirement!

Rest in peace, Mr. Sinnott.

Mort Drucker's "Gone Is the Gargoyle"

To honour the recently-deceased Atlas Comics artist Mort Drucker, today I'm looking at the story "Gone Is the Gargoyle" from Marvel Tales #127 (1954), one of his earliest comic book credits. The story was featured on the cover, although Harry Anderson drew it instead of Drucker:

The cover has a very whimsical tone which doesn't match the story within, as we'll see. The story is set in Paris, France, nearby Notre Dame Cathedral. Our lead character, a French policeman named Georges L'Agent, witnesses an ugly green gargoyle descend from the cathedral and attack a man in the street. L'Agent does absolutely nothing to stop the creature; once the victim is dead, the gargoyle returns to the top of the cathedral and transforms back into stone (his name might be Goliath). When L'Agent reports in to his superiors he doesn't even mention the death he witnessed.

L'Agent goes home to his wife and we quickly learn she's his second bride; his first wife was killed in the streets. When the new bride brings this up, L'Agent becomes angry and strikes her. The next day L'Agent sees the gargoyle come to life and kill another person. This time another man also witnesses the killing, but L'Agent accuses the man of being drunk and arrests him. However, another witness steps forward and both men insist that not only did they see the gargoyle, they observed L'Agent react to the creature. The police investigate the gargoyles but find nothing unusual - they're simply stone statues, after all.

L'Agent goes out on a stroll with his bride when suddenly the gargoyle descends and attacks the woman. L'Agent draws his pistol and shoots the gargoyle to death. However, the dying creature tells the wife the truth: L'Agent murdered his first wife so that he could marry her. L'Agent is himself a gargoyle and the creature is his son. Realizing his secret has been revealed, L'Agent puts the gun to his own head and shoots himself; in death, his body becomes a gargoyle just like his son.

Thoughts: Although this is early Drucker and not at all like the Mad art he would become famous for, it's still very well-drawn, as professional as any average Atlas artist. The story is a little too complicated, particularly with the business about L'Agent murdering his wife. L'Agent's refusal to kill the gargoyle because he's his son is a pretty typical Atlas twist, but throwing in an off-panel murder of a character we readers never met is a bit too much.

Allen Bellman's "Vampire Brats"

Acknowledgments of Allen Bellman's passing have been pouring in. Marvel Comics has seldom paid much attention to him, but they kindly wrote up an obituary for him. The best write-up on Bellman is indisputably that posted by Michael J. Vassallo.

It doesn't feel for me to send off Bellman without looking back on one of his stories, so that's what I'm going to do; this is "Vampire Brats" from Adventures into Terror#4 (1951)!

Our heroine is June Beaumont, a young woman who came to New York hoping to make a hit on Broadway! ...But she can't find work on the stage so she answers an ad for work as an "attendant to assist at infant' nursing home!" She heads to the address on Bleeker Street (nearby Doctor Strange! that doesn't bode well) and finds all the staff seem to go about in a daze.

The infants are strangely subdued during the daytime but another nurses insists, "They'll feed tonight!" True enough, the infants wake up at night (isn't it always the way?), becoming much more lively. But when June goes to feed one of them the infant grows fangs and leaps at her throat! June screams and runs from the ward, the infants in pursuit. "Creeping, crawling, toddling..."

June tells a policeman about her ordeal but he informs her that the building was condemned 20 years ago. When she revisits the building a few days later she finds it is abandoned. Months down the road June takes on a babysitting job for her friend Sally, but as she prepares to tuck in little Janice at night, Janice grows fangs. "No, no! Not again... Janice, not you... you're on of them too!" June screams. And the story is over.

Thoughts: Well, the shocking reveals of this story are mostly ruined by the title. They're not the most terrifying babies in comic book history, but this story is so loony I can't help but love it. Vampire babies could be a frightening concept, but these creatures are too adorable and don't seem likely to menace anyone without a lot of cooperation from their victims. But I like it. You did well, Mr. Bellman.

RIP Allen Bellman

Allen Bellman died today, aged 95.

I've frequently used this blog to discuss my love of Marvel Comics' 'Atlas Age' (comics published when the company was called Atlas) and Bellman was one of the few remaining creators from that era - he and Marvel went back all the way to 1943! Most of his work was done on one-page stories (notably the recurring 'Let's Play Detective' feature) but he worked on tales of all types and in all genres. He left Marvel after 1955 and spent much of his life outside the sphere of comics, but around 1998 Dr. Michael J. Vassallo rediscovered him and he began visiting comic book conventions, reminiscing about his days at Marvel and even reuniting with fellow Marvel veterans.

The Horrors of It All has a number of his Atlas horror stories on their blog: click this link to see what they have. I was fortunate enough to meet Bellman in passing during my one-and-only trip to San Diego Comic-Con in 2009. And now, like so many of the greats I met at that event, he's passed on. Rest in peace, Allen Bellman.

RIP: Stan Lee

Stan Lee died today. He was 95 years old. My feelings about him are somewhat divided, so today I'm going to celebrate his life; tomorrow, I'll criticize him.

Stan came to work for Marvel Comics in the 1940s as a mere teenager, an office boy hired by his cousin's husband, who just happened to be Martin Goodman, owner of Marvel Comics. With aspirations of being a great author, Stanley Lieber used a variety of pennames when writing comics so as to preserve his real name for his hoped-upon literary career; the penname he used most often was 'Stan Lee.'

From scripting, Stan eventually added editing to his duties. Marvel Comics were an also-ran in the comics industry, never publishing the sort of trend-setting fare such as Fawcett, DC or EC printed, instead chasing whatever new trend their competition had unearthed. Although major talent like Jack Kirby and Harvey Kurtzman passed through Marvel in the 1940s, their defining work was published elsewhere.

Marvel Comics imploded in 1957, going out of business for several months after losing their distributor. Stan was one of the few to keep his office job while Goodman let the others go; when they resumed publishing comics, Stan was left scripting most of what Marvel printed. Fortunately, Marvel was blessed with the work of Jack Kirby, who quickly became Stan's preferred artist. With Kirby, Steve Ditko and Don Heck as his most prolific artists, Stan wrote a variety of science fiction and western comics, favouring stories with giant monsters on Kirby's evocative covers.

When Lee and Kirby launched the super hero comic Fantastic Four in 1961, it was supposed to be yet another instance of Marvel chasing another popular trend - in this instance, the renewed interest in super heroes over at DC. But what Lee & Kirby turned in was different - a super hero soap opera which compelled readers to return month after month to follow the development of the heroes' lives. Unlike the stagnant world of Superman and Batman, the Marvel Comics heroes could change and grow; Spider-Man's initial love interests Liz Allan and Betty Brant were gradually phased out of his love life (yet not the comic) while he developed affections for Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy; the Fantastic Four's Mister Fantastic and Invisible Girl got married and had a son; wartime hero Nick Fury lost an eye and became a secret agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The stories which Lee scripted were also willing to push boundaries. This had been true of Lee even in the 1950s when he railed against the attempts to regulate the comics industry, but even under the 1960s auspices of the Comics Code Authority, Lee's scripts would confront racism and, eventually, reflect young people's anger at the Vietnam War.

But most importantly, the Marvel Comics of the 1960s were ingratiating; they were welcoming; Lee's caption boxes would often break the fourth wall to joke with the reader. It was a lightning-in-a-bottle situation which was only helped by Marvel's status as the bottom rung of a marginalized artform - he made reading a super hero comic book feel subversive, hip, counter-cultural. His became the "voice" of Marvel Comics, one which other scripters like Roy Thomas would emulate. For once, Marvel Comics had taken the lead; the rest of the industry took years to comprehend what was going on and how to respond. Since then (by and large) Marvel Comics have been the industry's trend-setter for what is popular in super hero comics.

Lee stopped writing comics regularly after 1972 to become president of Marvel Comics after Goodman sold the company (a move Goodman regretted almost instantly). Most of Stan's efforts from then on were focused on widening Marvel Comics' audience, such as shopping them around to television and Hollywood, which did bear fruit in places such as the live action Incredible Hulk television show or the animated TV series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Stan Lee himself would narrate the openings to the latter animated show, which was the first time I took notice of his name; I soon recognized his signature in the masthead of every Marvel comic book I owned. "Stan Lee" was the first comic book creator whose name I knew.

Although Stan returned to write an issue or two of comics here and there from the 70s-00s, he didn't do so on an ongoing basis. His writing presence at Marvel Comics was most keenly felt in his editorials, 'Stan's Soapbox', which would appear in places such as the Marvel Bullpen page and in Marvel Age magazine; at one time, I think I had read more entries of Stan's Soapbox than I had Stan Lee comic books.

Originally a man ashamed to sign his real name to the comic books he wrote, Stan Lee ultimately embraced his new identity, registering 'Stan Lee' as his official name and going before journalists to speak passionately about comic books, making himself the ambassador of comics - largely because when he started talking to the media, no one else was speaking up. Stan Lee became a known name to people who had never read comic books and eventually his cameos in Marvel-branded motion pictures would make his face and voice recognizable around the world.

Perhaps the greatest thing Stan Lee did to comic books was to standardize the credits box; not every comics writer or artist would sign their work (especially writers) and publishers would sometimes wipe their signatures off the page, creating the impression that comics were made by committee, not by people. Stan made the credits box standard and expected within the industry; he even made it fun, peppering the credits box with nicknames for the creators and in-jokes.

What I enjoyed the most about Stan Lee's stories were the jokes he would include to liven up scenes; when he wanted to be dramatic, he went all-in, but the rest of time, he had a lightness of touch, a warm joshing manner in his scripts which was very appealing.

Rest in peace, Mr. Lee.

Here are some blog entries about his work I penned in the past:

I Love Atlas Comics: "Burton's Blood"

Why Do I Like Super Heroes?

Thor: 40 Years of Favourite Moments

Captain America: Recommended Reading List

And this one, which I posted right after Steve Ditko's death earlier this year:

Unearthed: "The Man Who Captured Death"

They weren't called 'Atlas' because they held up well.

I've been reading a lot of 1950s Atlas Comics from the war/spy genres recently and have begun to notice some peculiar recurring ideas. Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me that much to find similar ideas repeated again and again in the comics, but these four tropes were a bit surprising.

Trope the first: Women Must Die!

This one came specifically from reading a bunch of issues of Kent Blake of the Secret Service back-to-back. Kent Blake's stories were usually set in Washington DC but would send him all over the world to ferret out communist spies. Sometimes the stories were established as a mystery to make the reader guess which suspect might be a commie. Frequently, the spies would die in the climax.

What's amazing about the Kent Blake series is how often the spies turn out to be woman and that the series almost always kills them. If the spy is a man, he might die or he might be captured. If the spy is a woman, statistically she is almost certain to die (so far I've read only one story where the woman spy is taken alive). It's not that the character of Kent has a thirst for women's blood - they tend to fall off roofs or be murdered by their male associates. There was something which convinced the Kent Blake creators that women were soft on communism and therefore deserving of death.

But even the women on Kent's side tend to be picked off, be they Iranian women or Korean women, simply associating with Kent is a good way for women to enter an early grave. In one story, Kent has a girlfriend named Gale who invites him her to home for a vacation (which naturally leads to a "find the commie" plot that ends with a woman spy dying). Gale wants to marry Kent; that's enough to make Kent want to get as far away from her as he can. Totaled up, Kent Blake has a pretty strong misogynistic streak within it. It makes you wonder if Mickey Spillane were still writing for Marvel in those days.

Trope the second: Peace Is Hell!

Now and then a character in a war comic might wistfully wonder, "can't we give peace a chance?" The plot will almost always demand, no, you cannot. There are some stories set during the Korean War where communist soldiers realize "the American way" is superior and will defect to the other side (usually executing a few of their fellow commies to prove themselves), but usually when a soldier in one of these stories thinks something outrageous like "communists are people too," the story will go out of its way to prove him wrong, wrong, wrong by having the communists commit terrible atrocities, disobey the rules of war and prey upon the soldier's weak-minded egalitarianism. By the climax, the peace-minded soldier will have learned his lesson (the only good red is a dead red) and will probably die in a suicidal strike against the communists.

Trope the third: We Have Met the Enemy!

It would be wrong to think the Atlas Comics glorified war. I mean, they did, but some of the time - particularly pre-Code - they told a number of "war is hell" stories where good men die senseless deaths, sometimes killed by munitions dropped by their own side. Still, you almost never saw a story where the United States Army were the bad guys...

...Unless you count stories set during the US Civil War. The one time where it is acceptable to depict the United States as an unjust aggressor battling a noble people? That would be the time they had to fight their own rebellious citizens, y'know, the ones who believed in racial superiority and the principle of owning other men as property; that never comes up in the Atlas stories, as you can well imagine. Virtually every Civil War story is some variant on "Lost Cause" hogwash and ends up taking the centrist position of, "gosh, there were very good people on both sides." There's something very unsettling about the one scenario where the US Army are allowed to be the bad guys is when they were battling a tyrannical slave state.

Trope the fourth: Yellow Fever!

Atlas Comics had a whole cottage industry of war comic book features starring a pair of vitriolic best friends, two manly men who would always be bustin' each other's balls while going on consequence-free adventures in the middle of a war zone. That is, they were basically rip-offs of the characters Flagg & Quirt from the film What Price Glory? and were often written by Hank Chapman.

Within those stories there were a number of notable female villains - Asian women often dressed in military garb (but just as often showing off their cleavage) whom our heroes would spar with time and again, never killing them despite their deadly possibilities. They were essentially ersatz Dragon Lady copies. Some of these ladies appeared so frequently they would fight the heroes in more than one story per issue!

Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak had Yalu River Rosie, the Panther Lady, Muktong Molly and Korea Katie; Battle Brady and Socko Swenski had General Olga; Iron Mike McGraw and Gunny Gorski had Chee; Battleship Burke and Salty Smith had Hungnam Hannah (I commented about her before). That's everyone I've found so far. Obviously there was a bit of the ol' fashioned western interest in Orientalism, particularly on the exoticism side. It also seemed to provide a means to belittle the USA's communist adversaries: "Hey, dem commie dames jus' wanna tough 'Murican guy tah put 'em in der place."

Rest in Peace Russ Heath

Russ Heath died three days ago, 91 years of age. He was one of the last few remaining artists who worked on Atlas Comics in the 1950s and Atlas, as my blog archives will bear out, is a passion of mine.

Heath's earliest art is barely recognizable with his eventual style but he did find his footing extremely quickly. From the 1950s to the 2010s, he had an immensely well-honed style with very clean lines but plenty of detail. As an artist who worked for the major comic book publishers, his style of realism wasn't a terrific fit for the kind of super hero comics which overwhelmed the industry from the 1960s onwards but the few times he did delve into super heroes he made it work.

Heath is going to be best-remembered for his war comics work (particulary DC's Sgt. Rock) but I enjoyed his Atlas horror comics the most. His art had a way of appearing light and almost humorous about ghastly subject matter, but when the time came to convey something horrific on the panel, he always came through. The above from "On with the Dance" (Menace #2, 1953) was the first of his horror stories I read and remains a personal favourite; from then on, I always paid close attention to any story bearing his signature.

I've only made one trip to San Diego Comic-Con (and I probably won't ever go back) and was present at the 2009 SDCC ceremony where Heath was presented with the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame award; it was easily the highlight of the entire Eisner ceremony. After his name was announced, Heath took a very long time to shuffle up to the podium, accept the honour, and with little more than a terse 'thank you' departed. I visited his booth the following day to congratulate him on the honour and to purchase one of his prints, which he autographed for me.

With 60+ years of comic book art credits to his name, Heath has left behind an enormous legacy. Among that legacy are several pages of original comic art which is now in possession of my employers, the University of Calgary Archives & Special Collections. Heath is going to be remembered.

Unearthed: "The Man Who Captured Death"

"The Man Who Captured Death!" is one of my all-time favourite comic book stories. It was originally presented in Amazing Adult Fantasy #9 (1962), but I first discovered it as a reprinted back-up feature in Astonishing Tales #21 (1973). It's by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko.

It's a very simple tale: an old inventor in his laboratory wants to continue his research but he realizes his time is running short. "If only I could triumph over death!" he remarks. His final project is to complete a large sphere which emits a beam of energy. Exhausted, he falls asleep.

Awakening, the old man sees Death himself before him, having taken a corporeal body with green skin and wearing a long black cloak. Death explains: "Only once in every mortal's lifetime does he glimpse me... and this is your moment! Now come, professor -- come to me!" But the inventor activates his last invention and it immobilizes Death within a barrier. Death protests, warning the inventor he doesn't realize "what forces" he's tampering with, but the inventor can only see the advantage: "So long as you are my captive, the world need never fear death again!"

And this is true! Death no longer has any effect on the Earth... and so, beetles become immune to pesticides and devour crops unfazed. Predatory animals increase in strength. Rats multiply at a frightening rate. Viruses in sick people's bodies can't be eliminated. Hospitals are overcrowded with the infirm, unable to die.

From his television set, the inventor sees the chaos he's unwittingly unleashed on the Earth. Horrified, he realizes Death was correct; he deactivates his device, releasing Death from its prison. Rather than approaching the old man in a spirit of menace, Death places an arm around the old man and speaks words of comfort: "I shall bring you -- peace! As I have brought so many others before you --" and guides the old man into death.
Thoughts: Many of the Lee/Ditko stories in Amazing Adult Fantasy are of this quality, telling a very simple fable in an economical, elegant manner. This one, however, has really remained with me. The inventor's triumph over Death is ultimately a greedy act, the old trying to place their desires ahead of the young. I love that the old man comes to the realization of his wrong and corrects all of this himself, rather than being forced or coerced into the proper action. In this 5-page story the unnamed inventor undergoes character development which many Marvel characters with decades of stories under their belts have never achieved.
I had wanted to cover this story on the blog at some point - perhaps in a series of posts on my favourite Steve Ditko stories - but considering the subject matter and the recent death of Steve Ditko, I can think of no better time than now to bring it up. I hope that for Ditko, death came upon him gently and granted him peace. Seek this one out, it is Ditko at his finest.

Do Not Panic! Steve Ditko is 90!

This week Steve Ditko celebrated his 90th birthday! Ditko is one of the few living comic book creators who can unequivocally be termed "living legend." Although best-known for being the creator of Doctor Strange and co-creator of Spider-Man, Ditko's unique artistic styles have keep him a perpetually devoted (albeit shrinking) fanbase. He still publishes comic books to this day, as I have occasionally pointed out on this blog. Ditko's unique perspectives, his way of depicting alien realms, his lightness of touch matched with grotesqueries and, of course, those expressive fingers he draws have made their mark upon my mind. If Jack Kirby was not the greatest comic book artist of all-time, then surely Steve Ditko is.

One of my early favourites is the story "Do Not Panic!" which first appeared in Strange Tales #95 (1962), although I first encountered it as a reprint in Curse of the Weird #1 (1994). Stan Lee was scripter and signed his name, as he often did on Ditko tales.

From a worm's eye perspective we see people panicking as an otherworldly craft descends from the skies. From there the perspective moves to people indoors listening intently to radio broadcasts of the craft's descent; people lock their doors. A squad of tanks arrive to encircle the craft at its landing sight. It's very much in the spirit of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

A lone astronaut emerges from the craft, clad from head to toe in a spacesuit. The wary soldiers demand he drop his gun belt; the astronaut politely complies. Offering friendship, the astronaut removes his helmet to reveal he is a normal-looking human man. The soldiers are Martians and the setting has, from the start, been upon Mars rather than Earth.

"Do Not Panic!" is only four pages and it's the right length. The story has a very simple premise and the tale gets in and out right on cue. Ditko was very careful to avoid depicting the Martians' faces until the last panel, but he did so in ways which would not tip the readers off to the twist - the lack of faces simply adds to the sense of paranoia gripping the populace. This tale is representative of many of those which Ditko produced for Atlas (nearly all of them scripted by Lee). These tales were almost all based around a very simple twist ending, but sometimes that twist could be unclear or require too much explanation at the climax. Here, the twist is told entirely through visuals, not text and that makes this a particularly special thing in comic books, a medium where all-too-often emphasis is placed on text instead of image.

Do enjoy your ninetieth year, Mr. Ditko.

Dracula Month Day 26: Journey into Unknown Worlds #29

I didn't want to let Dracula Month slip by without getting into another side of Marvel Comics' depictions of Dracula - their usage of him in their 1950s Atlas comics. He made various appearances of a limited sort across their titles and perhaps the best-known is "Of Royal Blood" a story which appeared in Journey into Unknown Worlds #29 (1954) shortly before the Comics Code Authority tore the medium apart.

"Of Royal Blood" reappeared in 1974 when Marvel printed it in the black & white magazine Dracula Lives. Throughout the history of their black & white horror magazines there were many Atlas horror tales placed back into print, but "Of Royal Blood" is one of the few to actually tie into the magazine's stated theme (ie, Dracula). The story was drawn by Tony Mortellaro (writer unknown) and features a man named Kroner who is determined to find a suitable husband for his daughter Maria. However, Maria is quite picky and when she rejects the suitors each time the father kills them. Kroner despairs of ever finding a husband for Maria who meets her demand "of royal blood," until he finds a very willing nobleman by the name of... Dracula.

"Of Royal Blood" is an effective four-pager with a simple twist upon which the entire story is constructed. The use of Dracula simply brings a little more attention to this work than what it would have otherwise obtained.

I'm back on the Marvel Appendix!

I have a long history with the Marvel Appendix, having spent many years there writing profiles on obscure Marvel super heroes; it was my work there which led to my becoming a writer for Marvel's Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and the eventual realization that working on comics was not the life goal I thought it was.

I haven't worked on the Marvel Appendix for quite some time but as they near their 10,000th profile I came back to help celebrate the occasion; I wrote profile #9,994: M'Tuba, a character from Lorna the Jungle Girl who became Marvel's first black adventure hero to star in his own comic book story.

Perhaps I'll continue to provide new profiles for the Appendix. In any event, cheers to you, Marvel Appendix!

RIP Jack Davis

On July 27, Jack Davis passed away. He was yet another artist featured by Atlas in the 1950s. My favourite Davis work at Atlas were his westerns - he did a few Rawhide Kid stories and drew the adventures of a lesser-known character the Gunsmoke Kid, who had an interesting backstory (I wrote up the Gunsmoke Kid's biography for Marvel Westerns: Outlaw Files). His loose, jangly style gave his western comics a little more jive than most. When his characters leapt into action, you felt the thrill.

But Davis isn't remembered mainly for his Atlas work, but rather his EC stories. Personally, I don't feel he entirely fits in with the other horror artists of the day - there's something a little too upbeat about his lines versus those of Graham Ingels or Bernie Krigstein. Still, he did produce one of the most notorious horror stories of the 50s - "Foul Play" - which, come to think of it, is probably more acceptable under his pen than most of the other EC artists ("Foul Play" is the story where a baseball player is torn up and his body parts used to decorate the ball field).

EC's Mad Magazine turned out to be the perfect place for him; in fact, even before I knew his name I associated his art with Mad (ditto Sergio Aragones). Whether it was a Davis-drawn commercial advertisement or motion picture poster, to me Davis was Mad. He was one of the first to join the Usual Gang of Idiots and he shall be missed.

Rest in Peace Jay Scott Pike

One so seldom hears from the artists who comprised the stable of talent in the days of Atlas (Marvel Comics' 1950s publishing name) that you could almost think they had all passed away - until, unfortunately, you hear of their passing. While some such as Colan and Severin worked up until the end of their lives, most Atlas artists have enjoyed their well-earned golden years.

Earlier this month we lost Jay Scott Pike, a veteran of the 1950s Atlas Comics. He's probably best-remembered for his work on Marvel's jungle heroines such as Jann of the Jungle and Lorna the Jungle Girl, but had real versatility, illustrating tales of spies, cowboys, horror and romance. What could readers have possibly seen in his work, hm? Hm? Hmmm.

What's that? Oh, yes, I'm obliged to mention he also created Dolphin for DC Comics, but probably his most overall renowned work is on the many pin-ups he drew & painted across the decades. They been republished in book format (above) and an image search on his name will bring up many (NSFW) results.

RIP Jay Scott Pike. You were one of the best.

If you admire still-living Atlas artists such as Russ Heath or Allen Bellman don't put off telling them so. Even notorious recluse Steve Ditko is still known to answer the occasional letter. Heck, don't put off telling any artist how you feel about their work. I don't regret telling Ron Lim how much I liked his Captain America; I don't regret telling Mark Waid how little I liked his Captain America either.

Amazing Mysteries of Suspense!

In a well-circulated anecdote about EC Comics in the 1950s, we learned how they once swiped a plot from Ray Bradbury for their comic, only for Bradbury to confront them. Rather than suing the company, Bradbury opened the door to official adaptations, resulting in many EC titles advertising Bradbury's involvement on their front covers.

As I've learned more about the horror comics published by Atlas (aka Timely or Marvel Comics) during the same era, I've found plagiarism ran rampant in those days; to judge by the sheer number of rip-offs I've seen, it's little wonder EC thought they could get away with an uncredited Bradbury adaptation - everyone else was! Atlas swiped Bradbury's "the Small Assassin" on at least two occasions. If you know your short fiction of the era pretty well then you can easily recognize the stories which hijacked the likes of Nelson S. Bond's "Conqueror's Isle" or Carl Stephenson's "Leiningen Versus the Ants."

However, given the sheer number of pulps, magazines and anthologies being published in the first half of the 20th century, there are scores upon scores which simply vanished into the ether; heck, even authors who are remembered to this day (such as F. Scott Fitzgerald) haven't kept all of their short fiction in-print. "The Small Assassin" remains a popular tale, which makes the rip-offs easy to spot. Regardless, there are times when I ponder over Atlas' horror books and wonder... just how many of these stories were pilfered from tales I have never heard of?

Atlas began their run of horror comics in 1949 with three titles: Amazing Mysteries, Marvel Tales and Suspense; others would follow. At the time, the boom markets were in westerns, romance books and crime comics. These first three horror titles have much in common with the crime comics - in fact, after just two issues of horror, Amazing Mysteries switched formats to crime. Like Atlas' crime books, many of these early tales had an obsession with setting the time and place (month and year are almost always established on the opening page). Several tales contain framing devices wherein a narrator relates the supernatural proceedings to his audience, often needlessly. For instance, Marvel Tales#97 contains the tale "The World That Vanished" in which a man journeys to a hidden valley in China to discover a secret library with the complete history of Atlantis, but is told he can never leave the valley; the man reads the histories and then the real story begins as he learns how Atlantis was destroyed. There was a definite lack of economy in how the stories were being told, but horror comics were something new for Atlas - and comic book makers in general. It would take time for EC Comics' beloved "O. Henry-style twist" to become the norm.

And now, just like a poorly-conceived 1950 Atlas comic, the real point of this post: in 1949's Amazing Mysteries#32, there's a story called "With Intent to Kill!" in which a man murders his girlfriend, believing she's unfaithful; the surprise ending reveals she was dead of a disease hours before he shot her. Reading this tale, I was stunned to realize it was a familiar piece, but the revelation it was a rip-off just lead to more questions! "With Intent to Kill!" is a complete theft of Elliott Lewis' Suspense episode "Can't We Be Friends?" (which you can hear here). Lewis' story was broadcast July 25, 1946, three years before the uncredited comic book.

My lingering query: how did the adapter select Lewis' Suspense play?

As noted above, 1949 was the year Atlas began their Suspense series (7 months after this issue of Amazing Mysteries). Although the series' connection to the CBS radio program was tenuous at best, they proudly advertised the radio (and TV) show on their covers up to 1951; it probably helped Atlas' circulation as Suspense was an extremely popular show in its time. The first few issues of Suspense did adapt some familiar scripts from the radio Suspense... but for some reason these adaptations all dated back to 1942 when the radio program began its run under the (tepid) guidance of John Dickson Carr; the early issues of Suspense struggled with Carr's over-expository convoluted scripts and the comic book was certainly better for it to have ditched the 1942 clunkers in favour of their own material.

Looking at "With Intent to Kill!," Suspense the comic book would have been better off to have adapted stories from later in the radio series run (basically anything from William Spier's involvement onward). It still wouldn't have made Suspense a proper horror comic book - because Suspense was not a horror radio program - but the program's later system of employing (usually) first person narration would have been a better fit for comics than Carr's drawing room drudgery.

Although certain radio shows would be rebroadcast from time to time - such as Suspense's own "Sorry, Wrong Number" - in 1949 it would have been difficult to obtain a copy of a 1946 broadcast. Is it possible the creator(s) of "With Intent to Kill!" had excellent memories of "Can't We Be Friends?" Or had the initial arrangements to create a Suspense comic book at Atlas enabled them access to the original script? Did the creator(s) have a personal copy of Lewis' script or a transcription of the broadcast? Or could the identical plots just be a fantastic coincidence?

I have no solution to the problem I've described. I'm afraid I shall have to keep you in...

SUSPENSE!

Homepage updates

I'm pleased to announce that - after apparently 3 years - I've updated my website. It remains an old, out-of-date format, but I can't bear to let it go.

The site's primary function is to serve as an index of 1950s Atlas titles, divided by genre into western, war, crime, romance and "horror" (a catch-all for horror, science fiction and fantasy). Further, it was first designed (circa 2000) to identify the original sources of western & horror comics Marvel reprinted in the 60s & 70s. Back when the page was new, even the Grand Comics Database had a lot of gaps where reprints were concerned.

This update reflects three years worth of culling from various sources to make the pages as near-complete as they'll get. Of all the horror & western reprints, I believe I've written up plot summaries for about 95% of them. I might never get around to the last 5%, but we'll see. There have also been many errors over the years, but I've done my best to double-check my work. These days there are many other fine sources for information (like Atlas Tales) out there, so what was once fertile ground is now well-tended; the site exists mainly for my own interest and probably not for many others. Still, the plot summaries might be of interest to some.

If you get some value out the site - thank you very much; I'm always open to criticism and compliments.

Dogs: Man's Greatest Enemy?

During the years of Stan Lee's editorial reign over Atlas Comics, there were frequently stories repeated amongst his various genre books; there are certain western plots which not only turn up again and again, but even with the same characters and dialogue; similarly, the various science fiction/fantasy titles of the 1950s revisited certain ideas. Because many of the books do not credit their authors one cannot assume certain ideas were repeated intentionally, but occasionally one does wonder.

Earlier, I posted a panel from an inane Atlas book wherein dogs are believed to be setting themselves up as mankind's replacements. Unbelievably, this was actually a recurring plot in Atlas Comics!

The above hails from Marvel Tales#133 (1955): "The Talking Dog" (art by Bob Powell). In this tale, a man discovers his dog can talk; the dog claims his species learned speech before humans and have secretly guided mankind down the centuries. The owner is outraged at the idea and tries to exploit his dog's power of speech, but the dog ends up running away, regretting have shared the information.

Two years later we have Astonishing#59 (1957): "Who is the Master?" (art by Robert Q. Sale). This time a scientist believes his dog possess psychic powers and have malevolent plans to surpass humans, conquering the Earth. He goes after his dogs with a gun but neither he nor the dogs are seen again. *dramatic stinger*

Finally, in Journey into Mystery#62 (1960): "There is a Brain Behind the Fangs!" (art by Don Heck). This is easily the silliest of the lot. Allow me to repeat the above dialogue:

"But Frank, there is no evidence that dogs have been getting smarter!"

"That's right -- and that's why I say they're a menace! They have been developing but they haven't revealed it!"

I'm sure I've seen the latter person in various internet forums. In this outing, the dogs turn out to be the servants of the real brains behind mankind's downfall: the cats! Seriously.

Perhaps these stories were ripping off a popular science fiction pulp magazine tale (Atlas frequently plagiarized the pulps). I do think it interesting, though, to wonder why creators of the 1950s would set up dogs as a potential threat. Was it an outgrowth of HUAC and McCarthyism, encouraging US citizens to distrust everyone, even the gentlest most inoffensive creatures? Was it a reaction against the rigid conformity of 1950s culture, suggesting an underlying menace within the nuclear family's own backyard? Or was it the byproduct of extremely disenchanted hacks trying desperately to fill up comic book pages so they could afford sending their kids to school? The truth is out there.

An All-Too Likely Scenario

From "There is a Brain Behind the Fangs!" by Don Heck (Journey into Mystery#62, 1960):

During the Cold War, no one was above suspicion; not even man's best friend!

Also, am I alone in thinking the dog looks like he's practicing some kung fu?

Across My Desk: "Are Comics Better or Worse?"

My work as a librarian occasionally leads me across some fascinating detrius in the history of comic books... such a post is this. From the August, 1955 issue of Parents Magazine, I offer you this 3-page article:

If you're familiar with your comic book history, then you know this was published a year after Frederic Wertham had helped spur on the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings and only shortly after the Comics Code Authority shield began defacing comics on the racks. The CCA resulted in tepid, lifeless comic books because of the restrictions on what was considered "in good taste," as though crime, horror and funny animal comics should each play according the same rules for the same audience. The stigma generated against comics by the hearings and CCA is still felt by comic book fandom today.

In another sense, this is all in the past and thus safe for us on the other side of history to look back and guffaw. Certainly this article's criteria for judging comic books is baffling. The "No Objection" list includes much of what Archie and Dell were publishing at the time - in fact, the list is almost entirely comprised of teen humour comics, funny animal comics and romance comics. And yet, what grants Superman No Objection but Action Comics & Superboy Some Objection? Why does the Lone Ranger warrant Some Objection while the spin-off comics Silver and Tonto are clear?

There's also practically no daylight between the Riverdale teens of Archie and the company's Katy Keene, yet Katy is Objectionable! It ranks a "2," which... hm, let's check the standards... Moral Area... ah, yes, "The portrayal of drug addiction or excessive use of alcohol."

Actually, Katy and the similar Millie the Model were probably written up over "Any situation having a sexy implication" and/or "Persons dressed indecently or unduly exposed; costumes not appropriate to the occasion." Yet how was Dan DeCarlo's Millie substantially different from Dan DeCarlo's Betty & Veronica?

Perhaps the most baffling Objectionable comic to me was Rin-Tin-Tin, who earned a "3" for Morbidly Emotional (as did the similar Rex the Wonder Dog). How could Rin-Tin-Tin differ much from the clean-as-a-dog's-mouth Lassie? Perhaps the objection was over "Kidnapping of women or children, or the implication of it," but that must be the most unhelpful criteria ever invented. The "implication" of kidnapping? Who determines when kidnapping is implied? How? What is a super dog like Rinnie supposed to do for a living if he's not allowed to rescue women and children in peril? Is he only allowed to rescue adult men? How emasculating for them.

As a fan of Atlas Comics, it's interesting to note how few Atlas comics listed under "No Objection" - just Patsy & Hedy, My Own Romance & Homer the Happy Ghost. None of their adventure comics made the cut, while DC at least scored with Superman and Tomahawk. It's strange to see the various Atlas fantasy books listed with different objections as their content was virtually identical and all of it rather bad; that's the really galling part - even after cleaning up their horror comics into fantasy comics, Atlas was still told their material was too "morbid." Check out this from the article (emphasis mine):

"Horror and crime comics are less numerous and somewhat less offensive according to this year's review than formerly: yet a new subtle type of mystery story has appeared on the scene. To some parents it might seem even more objectionable than the obviously fantastic and weird stories of other years. These new mystery stories present arson, walking dead, and even in some cases horribly disturbing incidents that seem a threat to civilization."

I would love to understand what the bold type refers to. "Seem a threat to civilization?" What, like a science fiction story about the end of the world? Was two-year old Alan Moore already publishing stories which promoted anarchy?

How about the wild "Crime stories unless they relate to folklore or classical literature." So, that's fine for Classics Illustrated, but what is a "crime story?" Wertham considered any comic involving crime (even in Looney Tunes) to be a "crime story," so what's their definition? Superman certainly seems exempt, despite being a crime fighter.

Some titles on the Objectionable list hit the coveted 3-in-one in culture, morals and morbidity! These are Authentic Police Cases (St. John), Blue Beetle (Charlton), Crime and Justice (Charlton), Crime and Punishment (Lev Gleason), Don Winslow (Charlton), Mad (EC), Outlaw Fighters (Atlas), Outlaw Kid (Atlas), Piracy (EC), Rugged Action (Atlas), Straight Arrow (Magazine Enterprises) & T-Man (Quality). DC doesn't list a single title under all three, although it's interesting to see Batman came close, missing only on culture. I suppose Robin's shorts won them a moral objection for "costumes not appropriate to the occasion."

It's a small wonder to see EC's Mad on the list, although they were already headed to their magazine format by the time of this article. What is surprising is to find Charlton's Mad rip-off Insanity considered clean!

In other "EC can't catch a break" headlines, Valor is written up for culture and morbidity. Again, a company tried to clean up their content into something less sensational with decent values, only to be slighted.

In all, a portrait of the times; the US public eventually tired of poking their nose into people's comic book habits. They retain an insatiable appetite for intruding in people's religious, political and sexual background, however.