Some stories need little extrapolation...
...such as this never-reprinted short by writer/artist Howard Nostrand from Harvey's Blast-Off! #1 (1965)
Cute, eh?
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Showing posts with label Howard Nostrand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Howard Nostrand. Show all posts
Friday, May 3, 2024
Monday, November 6, 2023
Monday Madness BLACK CAT MYSTERY "Colorama"...Before and After the Comics Code!
One of the most notorious stories in 1950s comics went thru some changes...
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| Art by Howard Nostrand |
...when it was reprinted after the Comics Code Authority came into existence!
Actually, the theory that "Black" has all the colors together is true only in printing!
It's called "subtractive color", and when you combine all the inks in four-color printing (CYAN, MAGENTA, and YELLOW) as solid colors, they DO produce a BLACK effect on the printed page!
However, the effect that light produces when it's reflected from objects around you (or generated from a tv or computer screen) is called "additive color" and when all the colors are added together, they produce WHITE!
But, at the point where this story appeared in Black Cat Mystery #45 (1953), there were no computer screens and what little commercial tv existed was almost totally b/w!
When the story was reprinted in Black Cat Mystery #61 (1958), the Comics Code insisted on some alterations, beginning with the cover...
...adapted from the first panel on Page 1, but featuring a character not seen in the story itself, and with the protagonist shown in the rear-view mirror wearing glasses he doesn't wear until the end of the story!
Quite frankly, there's nothing too gross or disgusting about the original cover, so why it wasn't used is unknown...
But, at the point where this story appeared in Black Cat Mystery #45 (1953), there were no computer screens and what little commercial tv existed was almost totally b/w!
When the story was reprinted in Black Cat Mystery #61 (1958), the Comics Code insisted on some alterations, beginning with the cover...
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| Art by Bob Powell from Page 1 with additional art by Howard Nostrand |
Quite frankly, there's nothing too gross or disgusting about the original cover, so why it wasn't used is unknown...
Page 1 in the reprint is unaltered.
Page 2 has only one minor change; the policeman's less-snarling expression in Panel 5...
There are no changes on Page 3
Page 4, on the other hand, has a major change...the optometrist survives!
And the final page is unchanged.
Script and art are by Golden Age great Bob Powell.
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Monday, April 10, 2017
Reading Room BLAST-OFF "Danger! Atoms!"
Underrated writer/artist Howard Nostrand offers...
Here's the original art from the never-reprinted tale published in Harvey's 1965 one-shot anthology Blast Off!
What does it all mean?
Discuss among yourselves!
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Friday, February 10, 2017
Reading Room CHAMBER OF CHILLS MAGAZINE "Walking Dead"
The phrase "Walking Dead" wasn't always synonymous with zombies...
...as this never-reprinted story from Harvey's Chamber of Chills Magazine #3 (1951) demonstrates!
Penciled by Bob Powell, inked by Powell, Howard Nostrand and Martin Epp, this tale was one of the earliest to use the phrase "Walking Dead"...but in connection with ghosts, not zombies!
But don't worry, zombies get equal time this weekend...
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Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Reading Room EERIE ADVENTURES "Vampires from Venus"
It's hot and steamy outside...
...perfect weather for a tale about an invasion by aliens from a hot and steamy planet!
This 1951 tale combining Triffids (from the novel Day of the Triffids which had just been published) and vampires (with their classic weakness, sunlight) from the Ziff-Davis one-shot Eerie Adventures was illustrated by Bob Powell and Howard Nostrand.
The writer is unknown.
Eerie Adventures used leftover material from the recently-cancelled Amazing Adventures with an attempt to market it as horror rather than sci-fi/fantasy.
Only one issue was published as the title was dropped by Ziff-Davis to avoid legal action by Avon who already had an ongoing Eerie comics title.
ZD then did a Weird Adventures one-shot, which sold well, but discovered there was already a title with the same name from PL Publishing which debuted the month before!
So ZD retitled their book Weird Thrillers, before PL could take legal action.
The series ran five more issues before the Dr Wertham-led Seduction of the Innocent witch-hunt forced the cancellation of almost all horror-related comic books.
(Ironically, the PL series only ran two more issues before the entire company folded.)
Saturday, February 11, 2012
3-D BONUS: Blinkeys!
The 1960 William Castle movie 13 Ghosts used red/blue 3-D style glasses, but not for 3-D!
While most of the movie was black and white, certain sequences had red and blue tinting.
To see the ghosts, you looked thru the red "lens".
To not see the specters, you looked thru the blue "lens".
But, years earlier, in 1953, Harvey Comics' 3-D comic books offered a similar idea in a series of one-page fillers most of which have never been reprinted...
(Yes, you need those 3-D glasses to read them properly!)
To see the ghosts, you looked thru the red "lens".
To not see the specters, you looked thru the blue "lens".
But, years earlier, in 1953, Harvey Comics' 3-D comic books offered a similar idea in a series of one-page fillers most of which have never been reprinted...
(Yes, you need those 3-D glasses to read them properly!)
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| Adventures in 3-D #1. Art by Howard Nostrand |
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| Adventures in 3-D #2. Art by Bob Powell |
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| True 3-D #1. Art by Bob Powell |
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| True 3-D #2. Art by Bob Powell |
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