Wednesday Advertising Day.
Here's the second half of my Timely/Atlas war doubles. Lots of great stuff to see, even if you don't intend to buy them. Next week, I'll finish of this list with my cowboy and love doubles. Not that I have a love double or if I did that it would be a cowboy. Those rumors are made up.
Battle #18
1953
Cover by Russ Heath
Artists: Dick Ayers, Dick Ayers, unknown, Mike Sekowsky
Condition: coverless, but otherwise spotless
Guide price (Good): $10
Offer price: $5 (with other book)
The second Dick Ayers story is part two of a two part series about Adolf Hitler, the first part having been drawn by Werner Roth for Battle #17. The unknown artist signs his name Miller, but it's not Chuck Miller.
Batlefield #10
April 1953
Cover by Carl Burgos
Artists: John Forte/John Belfi, Bill Benulis (?)/Jack Abel, Dick Ayers, Bill Walton?
Condition: coverless, solid pages
Guide price (Good): $12
Offer price: $5 (with other book)
Like so many of these coverless copies, the actual comic is in pretty good shape, since most of those were kept apart somewhere and haven't been read to death. John Belfi was mainly an inker, but he was responsible for training a lot of artists (like John Severin and apparently John Forte) by always working with young artists who were starting out. The last story is given to Bill Walton on Atlas Tales, but it could very well be my own list that provided that information and I am not so sure now. The style is very similar to that of George Tuska with a hint of Ross Andru, but it's not by Tuska and Andru wasn't working for Timely at that point. Both were present at Standard, with Bill Walton, where they fashioned a 'house style' very much based on the Milt Caniff, Noel Sickles and Dan Barry influenced Alex Toth style. But if this was by Walton, he had gotten a lot better and would get worse after that again. I get a strong whiff of Cal Massey from the splash, but otherwise I am stumped. Nice pin-up girl, though.
G.I. Tales #5
April 1957
Cover by Carl Burgos
Artists: Gene Colan, Dick Ayers, Paul Reinman, Frank Bolle, Mort Drucker
Condition: Good, some creases along the spine and on the sides of the cover
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $7 (sold)
Great violent Colan splash, Dick Ayers does WW I, Paul Reinman in the jungle, Frank Bolle does a story about Rudyard Kipling and Mort Drucker illustrates the plight of the Chinese nationalists against the communist government. One of the rare instances where my copy is actually better than the scan used here.
Kent Blake of the Secret Service #6
March 1952
Cover by Sol Brodsky (?)
Artists: Tom Gill, Tom Gill, unknown, unknown, Tom Gill
Condition: Very Good plus, solid spine, no gloss, nice page
Guide price: $25
Offer price: $15
The outdated 'spy' stories were soon to be replaced by actual war material, but here we still see Tom Gill do what he does best. In this period he was often assisted by Joe Sinnott, but I have no list of his actual involvement. The rare twopager Mission at Midnight seems like a pure early Sinnott effort to me.
Kent Blake of the Secret Service #8
July 1952
Cover by unknown
Artists: Tom Gill, unknown, unknown, Tom Gill
Condition: Good minus, good spine, but little piece out of cover bottom
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $8
Kent Blake has changed his spy coat for an army uniform and joins the brave men fighting the reds in Korea. The Tom Gill stories look more Sinnotty, if there is such a word. If there's ever a Kent Blake mocie, these are going to be huge. Okay, there are no plans yet, but you never know, huh?
Man Comics #14
May 1952
Cover by unknown
Artists: Jerry Robinson, George Tuska, Mac Pakula, Dave Berg, Vernon Henkel
Condition: Good, half split cover, solid but old
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $18
The only double issue I have of this series, but it's a doozy. I already showed the Robinson and the Tuska story on my blog, so I'll repeat it here. The Chapman-written Berg story is job number 10019, the last of the nineteen that were numbered that way before Timely switched to a system using letters and numbers. For more, see my previous post about these stories.
Man Comics #16
July 1952
Cover by Joe Maneely
Artists: Werner Roth, George Tuska, Cal Massey, Russ Heath
Condition: coverless, but almost white pages
Guide price (Good): $10
Offer price: $10
Ik know I keep saying these coverless books are often better than better graded ones, but this time it's really true. I wondered if I shouldn't rip the cover of the other copy I have and marry it to this one to create a book many times worth the catalogue price for either. And what a great book to have. The Werner Roth story shows his skill at staging action within a panel (and unfortunately his lesser talent at creating close-ups). The George Tuska story could be used to teach pacing in comics, the Cal Massey story is a great sample of this Afro-American painter, who only worked in comics for a short time to earn a bit of dough and the Russ Heath story is a harrowingly told tale of a mine tester with an horrific ending. Amazing that a book such as this would only be $10 in the Price Guide. Get a better copy, if you find it or settle for this one to read.
Man Comics #23
Februari 1953
Cover by Fred Kida
Artists: Gene Colan, Joe Sinnott, Gil Evans, George Tuska
Condition: coverless, good pages, some soiling
Guide price (Good): $10
Offer price: $10
One of the best early Gene Colan stories around. This is the sort of thing he tried to do at DC and wasn't allowed after one or two tries. The Joe Sinnott story is a great historical tale about Napoleon Bonaparte and George Tuska does another lavishly inked gritty war story. Great book to have, actually.
Marines in Action #14
September 1957
Cover by John Severin
Artists: John Severin, Syd Shores, Mac Pakula, Dave Berg, Chuck Winter
Condition: Good, some creases on the cover
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $8 (sold)
The well-colored cover is one of the big attractions here. I always felt that Timely's less noble war stories were a lot closer to reality than those that were done at the same time at DC. And Stan Lee had John Severin, who added humanity to everything he drew.
Marines in Battle #10
Februari 1956
Cover by Joe Maneely
Artists: Forgione/Abel, Gene Colan, Bob Powell, Dick Ayers, Forgione/Abel
Condition: Good, some creases, cover loose on top staple
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $8
Solid work by Bob Forgione, Dick Ayers does the early history of the marine corps and Bob Powell is one of the best artists as far as human expressions go, but the real star is a rare Gene Colan story about jet pilots. All that under a fun cover by Joe Maneely about American soldiers using flame throwers (although the only red we see gets punched in the face instead of horribly burned).
Marine in Battle #20
November 1957
Cover by Carl Burgos
Artists: Gene Colan, Syd Shores, Dick Ayers, George Tuska, Joe Sinnott
Condition: Fine, bright cover, solid spine with some scuffing, no creases or missing flakes
Guide price: $30
Offer price: $20
A Great Marvel All-Stars issue. All artists who worked on this book would still be working for Stan in the sixties. The Colan story is a great tale of captured Americans and George Tuska tells another tale of the early days of the Marine Corps.
Marines in Battle #21
Januari 1958
Cover by Fred Kida (?)
Artists: Gene Colan, Doug Wildey, Carl Burgos, Al Gordon (?), Dick Ayers
Condition: Good minus, cspine partially split, some cover flakes
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $6
Doug Wildey was still assembling his photo-realistic style from various sources here. The fourth story is attributed to Al Gordon at Atlas Tales as one of his few solo stories and I can see why.
Navy Action #3
1954
Cover by Carl Burgos
Artists: Mac Pakula, Bill Everett, Bill Benulis, Paul Reinman,
Condition: Good, slight creases and spine roll
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $8 (sold)
If you want to collect an abtainable corner of Timely's output, you could do worse than start with the Navy series, Navy Action, Navy Combat and Navy Tales. These series span the pre-code and post-code area and feature load s of great work by Joe Maneely, Bill Everett, Don Heck,Reed Crandell, Al Williamson, Angelo Torres, Hoe Sinnott, John Severin and Paul Reinman. And they have the added bonus of being cheaper than they shoudl be. Here we have a great tale by Bill Everett. No one drew large bodies of water like him. The Reinman story is a moody piece about a stranded submarine.
Navy Action #10
Februari 1956
Cover by Carl Burgos
Artists: Syd Shores, Gene Colan,Dave Berg, Bob Forgione/Jack Abel,Syd Shores
Condition: Good minus, some flakes of cover sides
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $6
Gene Colan shows how to ink Gene Colan with a story about the war against the Japanese and Dave Berg takes us underwater in a submarine. Okay, I agree. It's all the submarine stories that really atrackt me to these books.
Navy Combat #3
October 1955
Cover by Carl Burgos
Artists: Don Heck, Bill Everett, Joe Sinnott, Chuck Miller
Condition: Good plus, some light creases
Guide price: $18
Offer price: $14
Don Heck had is own series in this comic, called "Torpedo" Taylor. Bill Everett tells the story of a pilot who gets left in a inflateble boat after being shot down.
Navy Combat #14
Augustus 1957
Cover by Bill Everett
Artists: Don Heck, Gene Colan, unknown, Angelo Torres, Geore Woodbridge
Condition: Very Good minus, some light creasing, solid book
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $12
Guns, planes, warships and Bill Everett. What else do you need for a dynamite cover? The Angelo Torres story is a great moody piece. The unknown story could be one that was left over before the implosion of 1957 and finished by a different artist. I see traces of Werner Roth, Manny Stallman and Bob Forgione, so take your pick. Don Heck does his signature "Torpedo" Taylor series.
Navy Combat #18
June 1958
Cover by Joe Maneely
Artists: Gene Colan, Paul Reinman, John Forte, Syd Shores, Mac Pakula
Condition: Good minus, lots of little creases, but the book holds together
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $8
Spy Cases #9
Februari 1952
Cover by unknown
Artists: Robert Sale, Bill Savage, unknown, unknown
Condition: Very Good plus, some scuffing on the spine, almost glossy cover
Guide price: $25
Offer price: $15
Last issue in the spy format, with the last Doug Grant story. But the Robert Sale story is already about Korea and might be one of the first. Sale is here still halfway between his Joe Maneely- and his Reed Crandell-influence style. verworked, but impressive. People who know better than me have identified Bill Savage as the second artist. The third story has many shots that looks like Gene Colan's to me, but the inking is totally different.
Spy Cases #11
June 1952
Cover by Sol Brodsky
Artists: Bill Savage, Vernon Henkel, Bill Savge, Bill LaCava
Condition: Good, some scuffing on the cover, holds together well
Guide price: $15
Offer price: $10
Now we are geting somewhere. Four solid war stories, not as desperate as some of the later ones, but certainly violent.
Spy Cases #19
October 1953
Cover by Carl Burgos
Artists: Bill Savage, Bill Savage, Ed Moline, Bill Savage
Condition: Good plus, slight spine roll, but hold very well together
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $14
Towards the end of it's run Spy Cases reverted to it's spy format. Bill Savage had diferent inking styles, but the strength of his work lies in the weird and often ugly characters he designed. After this he worked on some of Stan Lee's crime titles before disappearing.
Spy Fighters #7
March 1952
Cover by Russ Heath
Artists: unknown, Sol Brodsky, Cal Massey Sol Brodsky
Condition: Good plus, little piece missing from cover (not image area)
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $15
When I started collecting war books, I started on the early part of 1952. In these months some of the best stories and art appears, as Stan Lee and his artists and writers try to get a grip on the war in Korea. The cover is one of those Russ Heath gems I would love to have him recreate if I had the money.Violent heroic fiction as no other company was providing.
War Action #4
July 1952
Cover by Sol Brodsky
Artists: Dave Berg, Jay Scott Pike, Norman Steinberg, Sy Grudko
Condition: Very Good, only defect a small loose piece in the left bottom corner
Guide price: $25
Offer price: $20
Norman Steinberg writes his own story, as per usual, about a nebbish finding happiness when he finally is in a position to give his life for the army.
War Action #8
November 1952
Cover by Sol Brodsky
Artists: George Tuska, Sol Brodsky, Vernon Henkel, Cal Massey
Condition: Good plus, slight spine roll
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $18
Vernon Henkel has a great splash with bullets coming through a letter a soldier is writing home and Cal Massey does a daring tale by Hank Chapman about ski soldiers, but the star here is the George Tuska story. The first page images are gripping and overall it is great to see how dark he can get. All through his career he was tempted to deliver no more than line-work, but when he was working for Stan Lee in te fifties, he really delivered on the inking. Never more so than in this story.
War Combat #3
July 1952
Cover by Joe Maneely
Artists: Robert Sale, Bill LaCava, Gene Colan, Norman Steinberg
Condition: coverless, outside a bit rough
Guide price (Good): $10
Offer price: $ 5 (if bought with other books)
Here's a coverless book with some defects on the outside. Without the cover protecting it the first page can get a bit dirty apparently. Great four pager by Gene Colan. My father in law used to tell a story about how he gave a sigaret to a dying comrade fighting for the Dutch army in Indonesia in 1948. Gene Colan tells a similar story to great effect. Unlike all of DC's stories, this one takes place at night of course.
War Comics #10
June 1952
Cover by Sol Brodsky
Artists: Robert Sale, John Romita, unknown, Sol Brodsky, Norman Steinberg
Condition: Good minus, holds together well, but feels a bit rough
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $10
I wonder how a book this good could be priced so cheap in the price guide. But hey, that's why I started collecting Atlas books with the war series and why I allowed myself to buy so many doubles in lots. This book has two stories plus a text story from the 'nineteen that were lost', the numbers over regular job number 10000. I particulary like the early John Romita, where he tries to impress the reade rand Stan Lee with lots and lots of mud.
War Comics #14
December 1952
Cover by Sol Bodsky
Artists: Syd Shores, Chuck Miller, unknown, Joe Maneely
Condition: Good minus, spine half split, good color pages
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $9
The unknown story could be by Gil Evans, but I am not sure. Joe Maneely's story is another sample of his virtuoso art style, with great depth and use of thick and thin lines, which have led some to call it like woodcuts.
War Comics #16
Februari 1953
Cover by Russ Heath
First copy of two
Artists: Russ Heath, John Romita, Paul Reinman, Mike Sekowsky
Condition: Poor, four middle pages missing, affecting Reinman story
Guide price (Good): $10
Offer price: $5 (if bought with other book)
Another book which should be worth a lot more than the Price Guide indicates. It has everything, a rare jet pilot story by John Romita, a dark and muddy Mike Sekowsky story (who usually got assigned a slicker inker for his work), Russ Heath's impressive examination of the German Kaiser and even the Paul Reinman story shows what a great action artist he used to be. All that under a Russ Heath cover dabout a soldier caarying his wounded (or maybe even dead) comrade across a river, adding a humanity to it that was missing from much of DC's war output). The low price is due to the missing pages, but the missing page was on Atlas Tales, so I am showing it here.
War Comics #16
Februari 1953
Cover by Russ Heath
Second copy of two
Artists: Russ Heath, John Romita, Paul Reinman, Mike Sekowsky
Condition: Fine, glossy cover, holds together well
Guide price: $35
Offer price: $25
For the description see the previous entrance. If ever you buy a book for the cover, this should be it.
War Comics #24
March 1954
Cover by Russ Heath
Artists: Joe Maneely, Dick Ayers, unknown, Syd Shores
Condition: Very Good, no real defects, just a bit dull
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $15
The Joe Maneely about the battle of the Siegfried line shows Hitler in his last days and the unknown story look familiar to me, but I can't place it. Maybe it's by Fred Kida. The cover is magnificent although personally I would have gone for a less realistic color schema allowing for a bit more light on the soldiers face.
War Comics #29
November 1954
Cover by Russ Heath
Artists: John Romita, Joe Sinott, Mort Leav, Dick Ayers
Condition: Good, lots of creases, cover almost loose, supple pages
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $7
Another great Russ Heath cover. Mort Leav was on eof the best artists almost never working for Stan Lee. He had other companies to supply. In his early years he ifluenced Bernie Krigstein with his own brand of realistic stylisation.
War Comics #33
March 1955
Cover by Russ Heath
Artists: Bill Benulis, Joe Sinnott, Jack Katz, Dick Ayers
Condition: Poor, bit rough on the outside and would be good but for missing centerfold
Guide price (Good): $10
Offer price: $5 (with other book)
Bill Benulis was a weird artist, who page lay-out was always special, but he story I like best here is the night patrol story by Joe Sinnott. Sinnott's work can be a bit too clean for my taste, but here it's rain and mud everywhere. The missing centerfold affects the Katz story, but I have found a scan.
War Comics #38
November 1955
Cover by Carl Burgos
Artists: Bob Forgione/Jack Abel, Dick Ayers, Jack Katz, Kubert/Moskowitz,
Condition: Good plus, little bit loose and some creases, but hold together well
Guide price: $15
Offer price: $10
For some reason Joe Kubert did a couple of stories for Stan Lee that were inked by Sam Moskowicz. More a rarity than a highpoint in the history of comic art.
War Comics #41
May 1956
Cover by John Severin
Artists: Gene Colan, Vic Carrabotta, Bob Powell, Mort Drucker, Chuck Miller
Condition: Good, some bits missing from side cover, some creases
Guide price: $10
Offer price: $8 (sold)
Mort Drucker has great splash page with Genhis Khan illustrating the principle of attacking at dawn and Gene Colan takes us through the mountain snows.
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