The vibrant cover is courtesy of Russ Heath. The cover story, Under Fire, is by John Romita. I just love his inks in this tale of Clobber Valley. The texture and detail Romita works into a two-day growth of beard, as well as the panoramic view of the valley along the 38th parallel, is inspiring. Favorite moment: Last panel – page 4. Romita’s inks (the ear, the hand, the neck rolls) turn the Communist Colonel into a monster.
The Navy That Wasn’t! is Joe Sinnott, another great inker. Love that splash panel. Isn’t it easy to imagine the sound of that watery explosion? I love that roiling, black smoke with a red hot core. Plus, I love the Atlas colors on page 3: A green explosion and a purple face – but it works! Cool.
Mort Leav did the art for The Last of The Seminoles! Favorite moment: Well, coming from the great swamp, er, great state of Florida, you know I'm loving that splash panel. Man, just looking at that fine work, I can hear the mosquitoes whining in my ears!
River Crossing! has the ever-solid Dick Ayers on pencils and (according to the Atlas Index) Ernie Bache on inks. I love stories from the point of view of inanimate objects, in this case the German bridge at Remagen. I would have bought this comic if only for the caricature of Hitler on page 2. That’s one true red, white, and blue bridge; particularly considering it is built on the Rhine.
This ad is from the same issue. Yep, it's Howdy Doody time! OK, quick poll: Which roll of film would you watch first? Sure, the obvious choice is Howdy Doody Goes to Mars; but after consideration, I'm going with Howdy Doody goes Hunting for Rabbits. I really must see Howdy and Clarabell tromping through the woods with shotguns. I bet they stick Flub-A-Dub with the skinning and cleaning detail.
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9 comments:
Love early Romita, all his influences ooze all over the place (Caniff mostly). The Semenole story is sad but true. That last story is quite grand in scale, full of so much confusion and activity, the way an actual conventional war would be. Really takes you there, Mykal. Great Post !
The Joe Sinnott story is slick. Every panel has a tense nervous energy (even when he takes time to draw all the rivets in the background.) The last page, depicting the sinking of the "Szent Istvan" with the men silhouetted in the foreground, is awesome.
Lysdexicuss: Caniff! Yes! I hadn't seen that. And I agree, that Seminole story kind of sticks with you.
Tim: That last page is pretty grand, now that I take a second look (third look). I love when the comments bring my attention to something I took for granted. Thanks!
And thanks both of youse for the comments! -- Mykal
Gadzooks! Heath, Sinnot, Romita, and Ayers in one book! I love Dick Ayers, and his early work is very intriguing. Is that a tiny hint of Harvey Kurtzman in Ayers'pencils?
Aaron: influences or a merging of styles seems to dominate this post. I thought I saw the barest hint of Kurtzman myself in that last story, particularily the last panel of the tank, and the splash.
With the Sinnott story, I thought I saw real flashes of Severin. -- Mykal
Wow!
The whole wonderful issue!
Great massive post, Mykal.
Beautiful looking comic and scans, too.
Apocolyte: Thanks, my friend!
Ernie Bache's inks on "River Crossing" are sensational. I didn't know where else to see his work other than the Montes & Bache issues of Konga, Gorgo, and Reptilicus published by Charlton in the early 60s. From this piece in comparison with those monster books I can see that his inks are very influential. I love his work.
KB: I agree about Bache's inks on that story - they give Ayers' pencils a nice volume often missing from Ayers work.
In my next war comics post, I'm doing a Charlton comic, Army War Heroes no. 21, Sept 1967, which has a story called "Alles Kaput." In that story, the Grand Comic Database lists Bache is inker with a ?. Stay tuned.
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