Number 1078
Going crazy for horror comics
Steve Stiles is an artist I first encountered in early '60s fanzines.Years later I saw his artwork popping up in underground comix, alternative comics, even Heavy Metal magazine. You can see examples of Steve's art, professional and fanzine work, at his website, stevestiles.com.
In '91 and '92 Bruce Hamilton published some black and white horror comics, Grave Tales, Dread of Night, and Maggots. There were only eight total issues of the three titles, and Stiles had stories in five of them.
Both of the stories I'm showing today are about insanity and comic book artists. "Black and White and Red All Over" combines art styles of Jack Davis, Graham Ingels and Johnny Craig in homage to EC Comics. It's from Grave Tales #2, 1991, and is written by Eric Dinehart. "Perchance to Dream," published in Maggots #3, is written by Russ Miller. Both stories are lettered by Bill Pearson.
(I'm going through catching up on the past Pap posts)
ReplyDeleteWhen you first posted these images, I couldn't place where I'd seen his work before.
This morning I realized he'd work on Xenozoic Tales! Having his work side-by-side with Mark Schultz's artwork always made me dislike Stiles' style.
So the opportunity to see his other work here is a breath of fresh air. His art reminds me of Wally Wood of course, but also Rick Altergott. Good stuff!