Number 226
Johnny Peril
Howard Purcell was a longtime artist at DC Comics, with a comic book career going back to 1940. He rarely signed his work. He drew this excellent cover of Showcase#30 in 1961, inked by Sheldon Moldoff.
He also drew a strip I like, the Kirby-styled "Black Knight" feature from Marvel Super-Heroes #17 in 1968. He received credit for this one.
Purcell was a comic book journeymen who labored over a drawing board for many years and drew a lot of features. This is one of his back-up "Johnny Peril" strips for All-Star Comics. This particular episode appeared in #45, February-March 1949. The art is moody and effective, and the story, a variation on Aladdin's lamp from The Arabian Nights, sent me into a fantasy world for awhile. What would I wish for if I had a genie? Hey, I'm not greedy. For starters, I think 10 mint copies of Action Comics #1, which I'd auction off, one a year.
Purcell did a lot of work for DC on strips like the Enchantress and the Green Mist series, but he really did phenomenal stuff for Marvel. The backup SF stories he drew in Silver Surfer were excellent. And that Black Night story was great! It's surprisng that a DC standard like Purcell blossomed at Marvel but a superstar like Powell floundered.
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