Tag Archives: Golden Age

Captain Marvel is 75!

I was just given leave to post this drawing. This year’s the 75^th Anniversary of the original Captain Marvel. FCA Editor Paul Hamerlinck (for whom I’ve done several covers over the years, a number of which can be found here on my site) was writing an essay in honor of Cap’s 75^th for Jon B. Cooke’s Comic Book Creator magazine. Paul asked if I would like to contribute an illustration to potentially accompany his essay, and left it up to me what to do. A 75-year-old Cap seemed simultaneously like both an unexpected and yet obvious way to go.

I wasn’t sure if either Paul or Jon would go for this idea. Maybe it would be a little too weird for a tribute. But I guess their senses of humor must sometimes go a little towards the weird too.

Paul’s essay, accompanied by my illustration, will be appearing in issue #10 of Comic Book Creator, shipping in November to your finer local comics shops everywhere.

Thanks, guys! This was fun!

Happy 75^th, Cap!

Now That’s Just Darling!

She’s a Wow!

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Here’s a recreation/reinterpretation of the cover of Wow Comics #12, featuring Mary Marvel. You can compare it with the original here.

Mary debuted in Captain Marvel Adventures #18, where Billy Batson discovered to his surprise that he had a twin sister, from whom he’d been separated at birth. It turned out that the magic word that turned Billy into Captain Marvel also worked to turn Mary Batson/Bromfield into the superpowered Mary Marvel.

Mary’s “visual father” was artist Marc Swayze. I was honored to be asked to do an FCA cover featuring Mary, as a tribute to Marc Swayze for what would’ve been his 100^th birthday. It was posted here a while back.

Regular visitors to this site have heard me say before that when doing these recreations, I like to have some kind of fresh take or approach, so that I’m not just repeating exactly what was done before. So imagine this, if you can: some alternate world, where Fawcett didn’t cease publishing comics. Instead, they kept on producing new four-color adventures for Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family. Maybe at some point in the late ’50s or early ’60s, Fawcett licensed Mary to an animation studio for a series, and Wow Comics was relaunched in support. It was kind of what was playing in the back of my mind when I did this, at any rate.

I can almost hear the announcer’s voice: “Boys and Girls! It’s time now for the adventures of Mary Marvel! The Shazam girl!”

Thunder Enlightening, and a Big Bang

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What you’re seeing here is actually a drawing generated some years ago for Big Bang Comics. It was a fake old comic cover, done for one of the History issues we put together. Those issues concocted a whole fictitious back history of Big Bang as a comics publisher (borrowing their format from the two completed volumes of The Steranko History of Comics). I didn’t ink this image; if memory serves, the inks were by Jeff Meyer, who also inked my work on a number of other projects around that time.

The color on this is new, though (which is why you’re seeing it here). I was recently contacted by Big Bang head honchos Gary Carlson and Chris Ecker, asked if I’d be game to finally add color to this cover. They’ve recently partnered with a company named Pulp 2.0 Press to bring back some of the Big Bang properties, and look at new ways of getting them out there. I understand this image might eventually end up on products like t‑shirts, coffee mugs, etc. Which would be a very cool thing to see!

So this gives me the chance to talk about a couple other things, while this image is up. I believe I’ve mentioned my Big Bang association before, but haven’t gotten into much detail about it. Though I didn’t entirely get in on the ground floor, I came in pretty close to it. Gary and Chris hadn’t yet published their first few issues through Caliber, but were beginning to assemble the contents when I was introduced to Gary at Comic Con. This meeting came about because writer Nat Gertler and I had done a one-shot for Parody Press/Entity Comics called Mister U.S.: 50 Forgotten Years (This later came out as Big Bang Comics #8). PP/EC tried to solicit for it twice. Unfortunately, the numbers weren’t there. But Publisher Don Chin thought there was something there that might be of interest to Gary for what he and Chris were working on, so Don made the introduction.

Gary and I hit it off right away. I was first brought in just to help design and draw a Simon/Kirby-ish character they’d had an idea for, called the Badge. But they discovered that I could also help with creating logos, as well as designing a slew of other characters and doing occasional color work. I didn’t just get to draw like Simon and Kirby, but other artists too, along the way. Plus I even had the opportunity to help out with storyline contributions. It was a blast, and exactly the sort of thing you hope to get to do when you dream of doing comics as a kid. So, thanks, Gary and Chris!

And while I’m here, this is an opportunity for me to say something about Thunder Girl and Bill Fugate. Thunder Girl was sort of Big Bang’s nod to Fawcett’s Captain Marvel. And Bill Fugate was the perfect artist to bring her to life and draw her stories. Without Bill’s involvement from the beginning, she would not have been the same. Bill’s drawings just had “fun” coming out of every line on the page. His work was cartooning of the highest order, in the best possible sense. I honestly think C.C. Beck would’ve liked Bill’s work a great deal. Whenever Bill managed to get a new Thunder Girl story completed for publication, it was an occasion. Heck, any time Bill produced any comics work, you knew you were in for a real treat!

I admired many of my fellow Big Bang contributors for their talents and skills. With Bill, I considered myself an outright fan. I never had the chance to meet him or exchange emails, tell him how much I truly loved his work. Unfortunately, Bill passed away (much too soon!) back in February this year. He was not as well known a name in comics as I think he should’ve been. As I’ve told some people already: in another world, some very smart publisher would’ve paid Bill big bucks to create any comics he wanted to draw. And those comics would’ve sold in really huge numbers.

R.I.P., Bill. You are most definitely missed.

“Hey Franky! I’m Seein’ Double!”

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We’re coming up on another Halloween here, and it seems I’ve developed something of a tradition of doing some kind of Frankenstein piece when that happens. Instead of doing just one this time though, you’ll see I got ambitious and actually did two comic cover recreations/reinterpreta-tions. Which seemed appropriate, given the subject matter. I’ll explain.

If you ask most comics fans around my age which comics artist comes to mind first when they think of Frankenstein’s monster, you’ll probably get names like Bernie Wrightson or Mike Ploog. But fans whose awareness goes back a bit farther might give you another name: Dick Briefer.

Briefer’s association with the character in print was not only longer than anyone else’s (running from issue #7 of Prize Comics through #68, as well as 33 issues of his own magazine), but he did three distinctly different versions of the character! He started with a straight horror version, spinning right out of Mary Shelley’s original Frankenstein story. Kind of a gutsy thing, to do an ongoing horror feature in a comic in those early days. From what I’ve read on the subject thus far, there’s a good case to be made that it was the first of its kind.

Then later, in 1945 it was decided to retool the feature as a humorous strip. The new, humorous Franky hit newsstands in Frankenstein #1. You might think it would be hard for someone so involved with a different version of the character to retool their vision so drastically, but Briefer did it. And the fans bought it.

That version ran its course in 1949, then in ’52 (when the ’50s wave of horror comics was under way), Briefer was called to bring the monster back to life yet again! Picking up after the last issue of his previous incarnation with #18, Briefer brought back a more serious version of the monster. This new version though was not simply a revival of Briefer’s earliest version of the character. For one thing, the art I’ve seen thus far tends to be much more open for color. And the few stories I’ve seen to date seem to play up more of the monster’s pathos than Briefer did back when he first worked with the character.

I must confess that only recently have I been learning about Dick Briefer and his version(s) of Frankenstein, but it’s been fun learning (I hope those who are more knowledgeable about this strip than I currently am will forgive any inaccuracies here). Thankfully, though we no longer live in comics’ Golden Age, we do live in what could be considered the Golden Age of comics reprints! Many old strips (like Frankenstein) that were previously inaccessible unless you had lots of disposable funds to buy back issues, are now being collected and reprinted in quality hardcover editions and trade paperbacks. A Briefer Frankenstein book is one of those that I would hope to lay hands on soon.

Oh, before I close, I guess I should get to specifics about what I did here. My Frankenstein #23 is a reinterpretation of Briefer’s, and you can see his original here. Briefer’s original version of Frankenstein #1 can be seen here.

Happy Halloween!

The Forgotten Ones: Bee-29, the Bombardier

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There’s probably a lot of ground I should cover to explain this one, so I’ll get right to it.

In doing research for a recent project (which you’ll find out about at a later date), I was pointed towards a website featuring comic book characters that are now reportedly in the public domain. While going through all those characters, it struck me that there was material there which might be worth mining for future blog posts. As a result, this will be the first of a series of posts on “Forgotten Ones,” which I may do from time to time.

For this inaugural outing, I chose Bee-29, the Bombardier. Bee-29 is unique because so far as I know, he’s the only bee superhero! He only made a few appearances back in 1945, but one of them was in a comic named for him. In the interests of saving column space, if you’d like to read the entry for Bee-29 on the Public Domain Super Heroes site, you can check it out here.

If you’ve visited this site much, you’ve probably picked up on the fact I often like to try to find an angle to approach a character like this, some kind of a different spin I can put on it instead of just reproducing something verbatim. So I thought, “What if in some alternate world, Hanna-Barbera had picked up the rights to this character?” Going down that path lead to my attempt at an HB version of Bee-29 on the faux Gold Key cover you see here, since Gold Key handled most of the cartoon-based comics back in the day.

Let me go on record here and say that I am definitely a fan of the classic Hanna-Barbera look. Yes, I grew up watching those shows, but it’s more than that. Years ago when Hanna-Barbera was located on the 14^th floor of the Imperial Bank Building in Sherman Oaks, multiple times a day I would walk by these great framed cels from shows like The Flintstones and The Jetsons, hanging on the walls in the hallway. I saw how well-designed all those characters were, and how strongly silhouette-oriented they were. The HB designers took the restrictions of limited animation and small TV screens, and actually turned them into strengths.

I’ve not had a lot of opportunity to attempt that classic HB look, so this was a chance to venture onto that playground a little bit. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t tip my hat here and say thanks to my good friend Mark Christiansen, who is truly a classic HB master.

Mary’s Dad

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Now that it’s a new month, I’ve got clearance to reveal the last two of those images I teased you with previously. These will both be appearing in the FCA portion of the upcoming August cover-dated issue of Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego (available starting in July, so you don’t have to wait all that long!).

First up is my FCA cover, done as a tribute to Golden Age artist Marc Swayze. While the original order to give Billy Batson/Captain Marvel a sister may have come down from the Fawcett front office, the job fell to Mr. Swayze to bring her to life. He designed Mary and drew at least her first couple of appearances, before being moved on to other jobs. So I think it could be argued that Marc Swayze deserves the title of Mary Marvel’s honorary father.

This FCA issue is appearing in the month which would’ve been Mr. Swayze’s 100^th birthday. Though he didn’t quite make that milestone, it’s still a worthwhile moment to pause and give tribute. FCA readers know Mr. Swayze had a long-running column there, entitled “We Didn’t Know…It Was the Golden Age!” Written in a very appealingly gracious and humble style, the reader got the privilege of looking in on snapshots of reminiscence taken at different moments in Mr. Swayze’s life. It wasn’t all about the comics; this man lived a very full and rich life. Hence my inscription. He and his contributions to FCA will be missed.

I was hugely honored to be asked to do this tribute cover, and wanted to be sure to do right by Mr. Swayze. FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck and I batted a number of ideas back and forth before we settled on a concept we both liked and felt was fitting. My first inclination of course was to try to just flat-out mimic Mr. Swayze’s style, make it look like maybe he drew it himself. But P.C. made it clear that wasn’t what he wanted. He was after my version of Mr. Swayze’s Mary. I hope I’ve done them both justice.

The second image (at left) is a header for a new regular column debuting in FCA the same month. You can see the title there in the art. This column will feature the writing and reminiscences of writer Otto Binder, a creative dynamo who had an enormous hand in shaping not only Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family for Fawcett, but he later made huge contributions to Superman’s mythology as well! And that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. I’m looking forward to reading these columns and finding out what he has to say.

Of Mad Scientists and Big Red Cheeses

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Looks like I missed posting last month, due to still being pretty busy. Again, that’s a good thing! However, now that it’s a new month, I’ve got clearance to reveal in full one of the three items I teased back in February. This is a cover for another issue of FCA, appearing in the upcoming July issue of Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego magazine (actually on stands in June, so you don’t have to wait that long!).

Right up front, I need to make it clear that I did not pencil or ink this cover. It was drawn by Ernie Colón, and inked by Joe Rubinstein. If you’re familiar with those gentlemen and their work, that may sound like an unusual pairing to you at first. I know it did to me, but I’m told that they are collaborating quite a bit in recent times. (And if you’re not familiar with them, let your fingers get to googling!)

So why did I post this on my site if I didn’t draw it? It’s because I colored it. FCA Editor P.C. Hamerlinck contacted me to ask if I’d be willing to, and I said “yes.” Something about the way this was put together reminded me a bit of those classic old illustrated magazine covers (for example, The Saturday Evening Post). So I tried to give the colors on this a little more of a painterly feel than I’ve attempted before, though that might not be entirely visible at this resolution. I hope Mr. Colón and Mr. Rubinstein feel I did justice to their work.

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