Georgeous Tuska

Frisday Comic Book Day.

For me the work of George Tuska is one of the best examples of how American comics and newspaper strips from the fifties have been ignored for many years and still continue to be unexplored (although things are getting better). Twomorrow, an excellent company with terrific magazines (Alter Ego, Back Issue, The Jack Kirby Collector, Draw, etc.) and great books on individual creators (the Masters series, but also solo books on Don Heck and Matt baker) has brought out a terrific book on George Tuska by Dewey Cassell. It's a very well written book and everything in it is admirable. The rpint edition has sold out, but you can still buy the digital version (http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=299) and read 30 page for free at the same link. But... it only pais attention to the merest fraction of Mr. Tuska's work in the fifties. Which, if you see work like this story or his work for Standard or the long run of Scorchy Smith Sundays and dailies he did from 1954 to 1959 I don;t undertand. In the old days, I sort of got it, because things were not very available back then. Even I was surprised when I came across the Sunday version of Scorchy Smityh a couple of years ago becaus eI had literally never seen it. But when this book was written my samples of the strip were already online and the Digital Comics Museum was up and running where I have found all of my non Marvel samples of Tuska's work. Okay, there is more now then there was five years ago, but am I alone in thinking this mid fifties period of Tuska's career contains some of his best work. What it doesn't have, of course is superheroes. I once asked Dewey why he didn;t include more work from the fifties and he said it was the result of a discussion with the publisher that they decided this was not something the audinece would know or be interested in. They wanted George Tuska, the Marvel and DC inker and artist. The guy who did Iron Man and World's Greatest Superheroes. So I probably am wrong. You don't want to see this. Well, tough luck. I do.

Detectivities

Saturday Leftover Day.

Before becoming the publisher and driving force behind the mmost famous crime comics of the forties Lev Gleason was best know as a left wing publisher. My friend Ken Quattro has written one of his famous well researched pieces about him on his blog The Comics Detective: http://thecomicsdetective.blogspot.nl/2011/07/mr-gleason-are-you-now-or-have-you-ever.html

One of his publications (or at least, as a collaborator) was the left wing news weekly Friday. I know he hardly ever used comics in there and I don;t think anyone has ever seen one of his later artists there, but here is a nice (crime) feature he did in a November 1944 issue. The artist Carl Becker is not someone we know from comics and sadly there are too many Carl Beckers on the Internet for me to find which one this would be.

Crime Fix

Friday Comic Book Day.

Early Fifties Tuska, always a good read.

A Criming Shame

Friday Comic Book Day.

Bit behing things here, but I'll catch up. Toay I have a couple of crime stories from the early fiftie from moonlighting artists. From 1950 and Hillman's Real Truw Crime stories come what I believe to be an early Dan Barry story (from before he became famous with Flash Gordon). Did you know he actually wanted to do a crime strip rather than a science fiction one, but couldn't sell it? Dan Barry is on eof those artists who deserve a whole lot of recognition, but he won't get it as long as DC is sitting on the copyrights. Between 1948 and 1952 Bary did loads and loads of great comic book stuff. He was one of the first to marry the slickness of Rip Kirby's Alex raymond to the quick and easy inking style of Milton Caniff. His style influenced many of the later DC artists, such as Gil Kane, Mike Sekowsky and Carmine Infantino, many of whom did a bit of ghosting on Flash Gordon here and there (although I am not sure about Infantino, there). His style, together with that of Alex Toth, laid the basis for the DC house style. But like Toth, Barry's early work can't be fully appreciated if you can't eprint the DC work he did in those erly years. All we have now for Toth is his later work (which is awsome as well and has been reprinted bu IDW in a superb series of books) and for Barry his early work for Gleason and some pieces here and there such as this one.

In 1954, Joe Kubert did a couple of quick jobs for Gleason, after his partnership with Norman Maurer fell through and before he landed at DC. I like that heavy early inkine of Kubert.

In the same issue you get Pete Morisi. Although much has been made from the likeness of his style with that of george Tuska, if you see them side by side they are immediately recognizable. As stylized as Tuska was, Morisi seems even more so.

Howard O'Donnell is in the same 'school' as Tuska and Morisi. He did not do a lot of comic book art, in fat I only know of his few pieces for Stan Lee's Timely/Atlas. But here he is, doing a very enjoyable who dunnit. Don't peek, now.