The Fabuleous Fifties

Way Out Westerns

Saturday Leftover Day.

Over at the Simon and Kirby blog at the Jack Kirby Museum, Harry Mendrick has been going through all of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon's work in the fifties month by month, trying to figure what the trends were, how much each book sold and out who did what. In his most recent post, he struggled with a piece, which some of us followers identified as the work of Pete Morisi. I have a few pieces by Morisi up already, but I promised him I would add some more, so here they are. These stories absolutely knocked me off my feet when I came across them last month. Morisi's style is what you would call an aquired taste at best. Some people find it too stiff and too mannered. But underneath all that, his storytelling is impeccable and even the style itself grows on you after a while. But as beautiful as this, I have never seen it. I do not care too much for the slabbed-on color, but in these early stories Morisi's style seems perfect to depict the beauty of the western landscape. They come from Arizona Kid #5 and #6 from 1951. I have also added a two page George Tuska story for those of you who keep mixing the two up. Although Morisi would sometimes use Tuska faces in his work, their styles here coulldn't be more different.