Number 2531: The Uncanny Heath

Recently I showed a Western story drawn by Russ Heath. Russ was very versatile as an artist. He drew stories from many genres, including horror comics. This story, “Meet Mr Jones” comes from Atlas’s Uncanny Tales #13 (1953). It has underwater scenes, something Heath did very well. (A decade later he would draw several issues of Sea Devils, a soaked saga of a group of divers whose business is to be underwater, fighting off monsters.)

This story has a couple of bad guys after sunken treasure, a violent murder by stabbing, and an electric chair. I don’t think Mr Jones’s true identity is any surprise, but at its least the story is dynamically drawn.

 

Number 2282: Two from Uncanny Tales

Jack Keller was a longtime comic book journeyman, working in a variety of genres. He was definitely able to tell a story, and my opinion was also helped by seeing some of his Kid Colt western stories for Atlas/Marvel. I would bet Keller was a very dependable artist who got his work in on time. An editor's dream.

For today I have picked a werewolf story by Keller; the Grand Comics Database credits Carl Wessler for the script.

Speaking of scripts, the late Stan Lee showed his funny side with this Joe Maneely-drawn shorty of a horror comics editor who can’t seem to find a decent story from writers. I have mentioned before I like self-referential stories about the inner workings of the comics business. I wonder if Joe Maneely caricatured himself bent over a drawing board (page 3, panel 2). Obviously he didn’t caricature Stan Lee, who was too tall and slim to be mistaken for the fat and angry editor, Bradbury Bulldozer.

Both stories are from Uncanny Tales #4 (1952).

Number 2083: Three uncanny artists

We're sliding into August with a couple of stories from Uncanny Tales #21 (1954). I don’t think there is anything new about the stories, but I like the artwork.

“When Walks the Zombie” is drawn by Bill Benulis and Jack Abel. Abel was a long-time comic book journeyman. Interesting to me from his Wikipedia entry is that he had a stroke in 1981, and rehabilitated his right hand so he could draw and ink again. That is dedication! Benulis quit drawing, according to his bio, after he left comic books in the '50s. Like artist Fred Guardineer, Benulis found the Post Office a good place for a post-comics career. That pension plan probably looked real good after years of freelancing.

“Tomb for Two” is credited to John Tartaglione, another long-time journeyman, who was an all-around guy at Marvel Comics for years. He could draw, he could ink, he could do production. As my dad, Big Pappy, once told me: “Make yourself valuable to your employer.” Tartaglione did that.

All three gentlemen are now deceased.

Number 2008: Uncanny Joe Sinnott

Long one of my favorite comic book artists, Joe Sinnott, like the rest of the Atlas artists, went from genre to genre, including horror comics. These three five-page stories, all from Uncanny Tales, are fairly typical horror: someone does something bad to someone, and revenge is exacted appropriate to the evil deed. Joe does some pretty good ugly faces and walking corpses.

Later in his career Joe did some magnificent inking for Jack Kirby and other artists. We also saw his own pencil and ink art in comics like Treasure Chest of Fun and Facts, and other publishers.

I have gotta be me and point out a fubar in “Find a Pin and Pick it Up!” page two, where the BOOKS sign is supposed to be reverse lettering. Someone wasn’t paying attention. I would have imagined editor Stan Lee looking at it after Joe left the office, then grabbing another artist to “fix this, willya?” as I understood was his wont. Somehow it slipped through to amuse sourball Pappy 64 years later.

In order, stories are from Uncanny Tales #’s 13, 14 and 16, all from 1953.

Number 1622: Two vampires and a werewolf

These three tales from pre-Code Atlas horror comics feature three very distinctive artists. Russ Heath drew “The Village Graveyard,” which originally appeared in Adventures Into Unknown Worlds #4 (1952). My scans are from the reprint in Marvel Comics’ Giant-Size Chillers #1 (1974).

Matt Fox drew “I Was a Vampire” for Uncanny Tales #6 (1953), which was reprinted in Giant-Size Dracula #2 (1974). While lacking the professional polish of Atlas artists like Heath or Everett, Fox’s oddball art has an eerie quality. His stiff figures (“stiff” has more than one meaning here) is instantly recognizable. Fox did work for Weird Tales, and had his detractors. Ray Bradbury, for one, referred to “Those terrible Matt Fox horror covers” [for Weird Tales].* But as much as I admire Bradbury, I disagree with his opinion of Fox.**

Finally, the aforementioned Bill Everett did a werewolf story for Menace #9 (1954), in a tale of a dog-hater who has the bite put on him.

*Becoming Ray Bradbury by Jonathan R. Eller, page 91.

**More Matt Fox, this time inking Larry Leiber in some early '60s Marvel Comics. Just click on the thumbnail.