Showing posts with label Mike Sekowsky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Sekowsky. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder IRONJAW "Saga of IronJaw!" Part 1

In the 1970s, everybody had at least one "barbarian" comic book!

Unlike most of them, set in the mists of "pre-history" millennia ago, this one was in a post-apocalyptic future!
To Be Concluded...
NEXT WEDNESDAY!
Written by Michael Fleisher, penciled by Mike Sekowsky, and inked by Jack Abel, this never-reprinted premiere from Atlas' IronJaw #1 (1975) features what has to be the most-misogynistic, least-moral, comics character ever to be classified as a "barbarian"!
He makes Robert E Howard's Conan look like a Boy Scout...and that's how he was intended to be!
It looks like this tale was originally-intended for use in the company's b/w magazine line, which didn't adhere to the Comics Code Authority.
But, for whatever reason, it was used to launch one of Atlas' first wave of  four-color comic titles, which required some rewriting/redrawing to cut back on the blood, gore and sexual content!
We'll go into more detail next week!

Thursday, July 7, 2022

Reading Room NIGHT OF MYSTERY "Giant from Earth!"

Though this never-reprinted tale appeared in a one-shot 1950s horror anthology comic book...
...it's really a straight sci-fi tale with no horror elements whatsoever!
I can't be certain, but it looks like the artists for this tale from Avon's Night of Mystery (1953) are Mike Sekowsky (pencils) and Frank Giacoia, Joe Giella, or Bernard Sachs (inks).
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Sunday, May 15, 2022

Cover Gallery FANTASTIC WORLDS and LOST WORLDS

They ran for a combined total of only five issues...
Art by Alex Toth
...but Standard's short-lived sci-fi anthologies Fantastic Worlds and Lost Worlds had some first-rate talent both on the covers and inside them!
Art by John Celardo
Plus, all five covers had something in common quite unique in publishing...
...none of the covers had anything to do with any of the interior stories!
Art by Alex Toth & Mike Peppe
Despite the captions, which did mention titles from stories inside the books...
Art by Mike Sekowsky & John Celardo
...the art didn't depict anything even close to what was in the tales!
But they sure look kool, don't they?

Monday, January 3, 2022

Monday Madness FANTASTIC "Deadly Doodles of Dandy!"

One of the funkiest versions of the "Everything I write comes to life!" concept...
...is this tormenting tale from Youthful's Fantastic #9 (1952)!
While the writer is unknown, the art is by Edwin Goldfarb and Bob Baer...or is it?
Oddly, the duo of Goldfarb and Baer poped up all over the place, always working together.
Yet the quality of their art fluctuated wildly from barely competent to superb!
This story has a lot of the stylistic hallmarks of both Mike Sekowsky and Carmine Infantino, while the inking looks a helluva lot like Frank Giacoia.
Were "Goldfarb & Baer" pen-names?
We may never know!
Note: For January, we're taking our leave of Mars-based stories, since our buddy at Rip Jagger's Dojo is doing a month-long look at the various renditions of life on the Red Planet...and how it affects life on our world!
We'll make a decision at the beginning of February as to what direction our Monday feature will take.
In the meantime, we're restoring the "Madness" aspect to this weekly feature!
Enjoy!
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Saturday, July 31, 2021

Cover Gallery SPEED CARTER: SPACEMAN & SPACE SQUADRON

Here's a look at the covers for the complete run of Speed Carter: SpaceMan...
Art by Bill Everett
Oddly, though they're really nice pieces of art, they never relate to the stories inside the book!
Art by Carl Burgos & ?
Art by Bill Everett
Art by Mike Sekowsky & ?
Art by Mort Lawrence
Art by Joe Maneely
Bill Everett (who didn't do any inside art) did two covers, and Joe Maneely (who did all the Speed stories in the first three issues finally got to do a cover with the last issue!
Here are the covers for Space Squadron.
Note the variants in foreign editions with retitled and redrawn covers...
Art by Sol Brodsky & Christopher Rule.
Vignettes at bottom by George Tuska.
Art by Werner Roth
Canadian Edition
Easily one of the worst recompositing jobs I've ever seen!
Art by Werner Roth
British Edition
Why were the aliens' second heads removed?
Art by Werner Roth
Canadian Edition
Now, this is how you recompose a cover!
Art by Sol Brodsky & Joe Maneely
Art by Sol Brodsky
British
Art by Sol Brodsky &?
We've decided to keep Space Force Saturdays at least through Halloween, so watch this space (pun intended) next week!

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Reading Room FANTASTIC WORLDS "Ace of Space"

Not to be confused with Space Ace (who went through several different incarnations)...
...this guy is a Cold War fighter pilot-type transposed to a Star Wars setting!

Darn those aliens!
Sending robot "drones" to do their fighting instead of going man-against-lizard as God intended!
Though the scripter for this tale from Standard's Fantastic Worlds #7 (1952) is unknown, the artwork is by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, with a couple of panels redrawn by Mike Sekowsky!