Baker Reading Room OUTER SPACE "Incredible Giants"

Here's another never-reprinted sci-fi tale...

...by renowned Black artist Matt Baker, who penciled, but didn't ink, the story!

Inker Vince Colletta employed a number of excellent, detailed pencilers like Matt Baker and Joe Sinnott to work for his studio, which "packaged" stories, series, and even book-length tales for publishers.

Unfortunately, when dealing with smaller publishers like Charlton (who didn't pay as much as DC, Marvel, Harvey, etc) to save cash, Vince inked most of the work himself, usually rushing it to meet deadlines!
Compare with another story, inked by long-time Baker collaborator Ray Osrin, and you see the difference inkers can make!
The same level of page layout and storytelling is obvious in both tales...but the rendering...hoo boy!
BTW, Joe Gill wrote this story from Charlton's Outer Space #23 (1959).

One important plot point was that the giant children thought the scout ship was a seed pod due to it's design...

...an element cover artists Charles Nicholas and Rocke Mastroserio didn't follow though on with their re-do of the story's splash panel!

Were they not informed, or did the editor deliberately insist on a more traditional ship design?

We'll never know the answer!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Baker Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Spymaster"

With a cover by Dick Giordano...

...and interiors by Matt Baker, this never-reprinted tale from 1959 has a moral that'll be lost on most of the readers of 2021!

If retold in the cynical, dog-eat-dog world of 2021, the "big chain" drugstore would be welcomed with open arms since its' prices would be lower, the little drugstore would be driven out of business, and the Earth would fall under alien control...

An ironic lesson in lost morality originally-published in Charlton's Out of This World #14 (1959) by writer Joe Gill, penciler Matt Baker and inker Vince Colletta.
We're giving artist Matt Baker his own "Reading Room" during Black History Month to showcase his amazing illustrating versatility!

Horror, war, romance, sci-fi, crime...there was nothing he couldn't draw!
One of the few Black artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, Matt drew only one Black character in his own strip...Voodah, whom he co-created.
you can read his premiere adventure HERE!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Baker Reading Room STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES "Inexplicable"

Can you guess which cover-featured tale from this book was pencilled by Matt Baker?

Considering Baker was one of the foremost "good girl" illustrators of the 1940s-50s, it should be obvious, even with the terrible inking by Vince Colletta!

That is one smart bear!

This never-reprinted story from Charlton's Strange Suspense Stories #44 (1959), penciled by Baker and inked by Vince Colletta, was one of the last tales published before his death earlier in 1959 of a heart attack at the age of 38.

Note that Matt was so prolific that the inventory of stories he worked on though Colletta's studio for both Charlton and Atlas (later Marvel) wasn't exhausted until a year after his passing!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Baker Reading Room UNUSUAL TALES "Blotting Threat"

Here's another rarely-seen sci-fi/fantasy tale by Black artest Matt Baker...

...the never-reprinted cover story from Charlton's Unusual Tales #19 (1959), about a disillusioned commercial artist involved with...

This story, penciled by Baker and inked by Vince Colletta, was one of the last tales published before his death later in 1959 of a heart attack at the age of 38.

Note that Matt was so prolific that the inventory of stories he worked on though Colletta's studio for both Charlton and Atlas (later Marvel) wasn't exhausted until a year after his passing!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Baker Reading Room OUT OF THIS WORLD "Xondu the Eternal"

A never-reprinted 1950s sci-fi tale by legendary Black artist Matt Baker...

..with a Twilight Zone-style twist ending!

OK, it's more a "Third from the Sun" than "To Serve Man" ending, but still, it's fairly effective!

(And kudos to those who didn't have to click on the links to understand what I was talking about!)

Penciled by Matt Baker and inked by Vince Colletta, this tale from Out of This World #15 (1959) unfortunately suffers from both Colletta's rushed inking and the poor printing Charlton was notorious for.

(Unlike other comics companies, Charlton had their own printing press, which had been designed for packaging...including breakfast cereal boxes...not newsprint!)

The writer is unknown, but many believe it to be Joe Gill, who was rapidly making a name for himself with an impressive, and varied, body of work.
Penciler Matt Baker was one of the few Black comic book artists of the Golden and Silver Ages, and was easily the most prolific of them!
Though known for his "good girl" art, including the famous (and infamous) Phantom Girl stories, he handled every genre with ease, including horror, war, sci-fi, and romance!
Sadly, though, few of his stories featured Black characters...who were rare in comics until the mid-1960s!
You can read a short, but complete bio HERE!
He'll be our featured artist this month in the Baker Reading Room at Atomic Kommie Comics, spotlighting his amazing cross-genre versatility!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ZANGAR "Lost Beyond the Bog of Darkness!"

We Have Already Seen...

...read through the synopsis on the title page below and see if you follow the rather confused narrative which mentions characters like Narcor whom we haven't seen previously!

Plus, who is...Koalrack?

Was this never-reprinted Bronze Age tale from Skywald's Jungle Adventures #3 (1971), penciled by Jack Katz, and inked by Frank Giacoia, a lead-in to an unexpected change in direction?
Conan the Barbarian had been introduced by Marvel less than a year earlier, and was selling amazingly-well!
Was Zangar going to go the barbarian-adventurer route, instead of staying a jungle lord?
And what of Tellana?
Was she going to be an ongoing villainess/love interest?
The writing is confusing, so it's unlikely co-creator Gardner Fox, noted for his precise, logical storylines, scripted this tale.
Sadly, this was the final issue of Jungle Adventures as Skywald phased out the color comics line to concentrate on their better-selling b/w horror magazines!

Next Week: the High Adventure Tales of a Different, Rarely-Seen Character Begin!

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Skywald

The Complete Illustrated History of the Horror-Mood!

(which covers the company's b/w magazines and color comics!)