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Friday, March 28, 2014

Number 1549: Action, please!

“Power Nelson, Futureman,” from Prize Comics #16 (1941) uses the Jack Kirby template of early comic book art. Action, action, action. The art is attributed to Paul Norris, a journeyman who drew for decades, comic books, pulps and comic strips.

 Copyright King Features, original art for a story illustration by Norris from 1947.

The breathless pace of the art covers up a lot of deficiencies in the story. Our eyes are so busy goggling the punches thrown (even by a girl) that we don’t have time to think that it is just WWII comic book silliness.

Norris, born in 1914, died in 2007.








6 comments:

Britt Reid said...

Bit of trivia: Norris redesigned DC's Golden Age Sandman, taking away the business suit and gasmask and giving him purple and yellow tights and Sandy, his teen sidekick.
After three issues, Norris was replaced by...Jack Kirby!

Brian Barnes said...

Usually the villain tells his convoluted plan to the good guy, but this time he broadcasts it to the nation!

Either the art is bad in places, or our hero got knocked out by a punch to the head but could run head-long into a brick wall (knocking it down) without any damage!

Pappy, again, I apologize, I've been lifting art from your blog to make bad comedy :)

Pappy said...

Britt Reid, if I ever knew that about Norris and the original DC Sandman I had forgotten, so thanks for the information.

But I never cared as much for the costume of the Sandman in tights; preferring the visual image of the original fedora-gasmask-suit-wearing Sandman...which is a reason I like the Sandman Mystery Theater series of a few years past.

Pappy said...

Brian, you gave me my laugh for today. (I ration myself to one to conserve energy.) Your re-purposed version of a scan that originally appeared in Pappy's can be found here. Thanks!

THE APOCOLYTE said...

HA HA! HAW! Who knew Hitler was so buff? HAW! HA HA! HAW!

"I dropped you through that trap door because I thought you were mad at me!" -- Listen, take my advice and don't ever try this with your wife! I did, and after coming to, if she wasn't mad before, she sure was after! (maybe it was the spikes?) Sheesh, wimmen! HA HA! HAW!

BillyWitchDoctor said...

While I too dislike the purple-and-gold Sandman get-up (take away the color and you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish between it and Manhunter, or any number of other generic superhero tights), I must say I love Red-Skull-knockoff Green Saber's outfit just for its sheer preposterousness.