Saturday, February 01, 2014

Brave New Boys

Friday Comic Book Day.

Scouts in Action was one of the most interesting features from the Boy's Life comic section that was made once a month by comics advertising agency Johnstone and Cushing. It was signed by Al stenzel, who was more of a packager than an artist and through the years we see several artists at work. In most of the Johnstone and Cushing features we can see who contributed the art, because it was either signed or one of their company regulars. Stenzel seems to have used some of the same talent pool, but at other times the actual artist involved remains a mystery. In the first one (and maybe a couple more after that) I think we may be looking at the work of Alex Kotzky and later in the sixties the hand of Irv Novick is pretty clear. In between the artists involved may be Elmer Wexler and possibly even Tom Schreuer or Neal Adams. All worked in a similar style for a short period in the late fifties. And there may be others, I don't know where Stenzel got his artists...


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8 comments:

The Seditionist said...

Finally recently read up on J&C and my recollection is that Al Stenzel was essentially a traffic manager there. C&J had an account to provide comics for Boys Life. Stenzel got control of the account from C&J but pretty much used the same artists, who were all freelancers anyway. Stenzel may have done some writing, no art that I recollect, but also, I believe, took credit for things he didn’t work on.

The Seditionist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ger Apeldoorn said...

I think I see Nick Cardy in some of the ater ones as well, although I never heard of him working for Noy's Life. I believe J&C was dimantled in the early sixties so I guess Stenzel just took over the whole thing.

Alberto said...

Ger:

As far as I can see, Leonard Starr has to do with most of the early ones, whereas Tom Scheuer seems to have drawn the latter ones. But it's just my humble opinion.

Can't see any Nick Cardy art, sorry.

Best,
Alberto

Alberto said...

Ger:

As far as I can see, Leonard Starr has to do with most of the early ones, whereas Tom Scheuer seems to have drawn the latter ones. But it's just my humble opinion.

Can't see any Nick Cardy art, sorry.

Best,
Alberto

Unknown said...

Hey, nothing to add about the comics, BUT, I am the great-grandson of Alfred Stenzel,
My name is Andrew Stenzel. This might sound a bit far-fetched But I know his son's name(Kurt Stenzel) and his grandson's name(Matt Stenzel).

Ger Apeldoorn said...

Great to have you here, Andrew. I have been asked to do a book on JOhnstone and Cushing, but too little is know on that subject. If you or someone in your family has any information, I would love to talk.

Unknown said...

Sorry Ger but I have nothing to add. I just came back from a visit with my my grandparents(one of which being Al's son), and I hadn't seen this comment. I hope you do well with that book.