Tuesday, February 18, 2020

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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Monday, February 17, 2020

Monday Madness TREASURE CHEST "1976: Pettigrew For President"

In 1964, Treasure Chest, an educational comic distributed only to Catholic schools...
...published a multi-part serial about how Presidential elections occurred, using the then-future Bicentennial year's elections as the example!
Their Teacher's Edition described the storyline's premise...
...while leaving out specific plot points!
The story begins innocuously-enough...
...with a candidate who sounds similar to the then-recently assassinated John F Kennedy!
He's a war hero who already held political office, and a Catholic in good standing!
"A man like that in the White House...never!"
Considering JFK had been killed less than a year before this saw print, it was pretty daring for the publishers to show something like this to schoolkids!
But this potential Prez shows that, even without the Secret Service, he's not helpless!
What did the would-be assassin mean by "your kind"?
Considering this was a Catholic-oriented periodical, and fear of a "papist" being the most powerful man in America was used against Kennedy during the election in 1960, it's not unreasonable that Pettigrew's religion might be the reason he was targeted!
Overcoming numerous obstacles, Pettigrew reaches the stage of the last debate before his party's convention, where he easily handles his opponents...


Is the "war hero" about to be exposed as a fraud...on national television?
(BTW, the reason he lost his voice was laryngitis due to a cold!)
Wow!
 "Swift boating" decades before it was tried on John Kerry!
Despite dirty tricks, slander, and assassination attempts, Pettigrew perseveres...
Written by Treasure Chest Editor Berry Reece and illustrated by legendary Marvel artist Joe Sinnott, this never-reprinted 10-issue serial (Treasure Chest V19N11 to V19N20) is considered one of the title's high points.
I've presented only excerpts here because the story runs over 50 pages spread over 10 chapters, and, since Pettigrew isn't revealed until the last page of the last chapter, I didn't believe most of the audience would hang on, even if I posted a chapter per day!
For those who do want to read the entire mini-series at one shot, just click HERE!
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Sunday, February 16, 2020

Saturday, February 15, 2020

"Good Girl" Artist Bill Ward Goes Black!

Though known for his...stimulating...renditions of buxom (and usually blonde) women...

...Bill Ward was one of several well-known comic artists who provided Playboy-style cartoons featuring Black women (and men) to Duke, a 1950s magazine intended to attract the young, male, African-American audience that other male-oriented mags didn't (yet) cater to!
You'l note that while the men are clearly African-American, the women have more of a "look" like Dorothy Dandridge (here as seen in her only genre film, Tarzan's Peril).
Since some of the cartoons in the issue showed both men and women as Black...

...we're not sure if it was editorial choice or Ward's lack of ability to portray attractive Black women with more "ethnic" features...
I don't know if Ward contributed any illustrations for the remaining five issues of the mag's run.
If anybody can provide more info, please contact me!
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Friday, February 14, 2020

Friday Fun WEIRD THRILLERS "Princess of the Sea"

Though the cover may not look like it, this is a love story...
Art by Allen Anderson
...so it's a perfect post for Valentine's Day, 2020!
Well, it sure ain't Little Mermaid, or even Splash!
Penciled by Dan Barry and inked by Frank Giacoia, the writer of this tale of love beneath the waves from Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers #3 (1952) is, sadly, unknown.
Note: when the story was reprinted in the Eclipse one-shot anthology Weird Romance (1988), it was again featured on the cover...
...also by an artist named "Anderson", but in this case it was Brent (no relation to Allen) Anderson!
Bonus Note: For an earlier reprinting, in St John's Nightmare #13 (1954), a new cover was provided by noted Black artist Matt Baker...
...who was best-known for his "good girl" art, but could handle any genre, including sci-fi and horror, with finesse!
❤︎HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!❤︎
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