A Premise Made

Sunday Al Williamso Surprise. 

Although this story is listed as being by Al Williamson, it is only signed by Stan Lee, so I wonder if it may have been by someone else or maybe there were other hands involved. It does look like Williamson's, except that it does not have any of his trademark tricks (such as the border less panels he liked to use).

Hold Your Horses (And Go Home)

Sunday Al Williamson Treasure. 

Today we have another Stan Lee story about the old days... when an abgry mob could be stopped by an old lady telling them te truth.

 

Go West, Young Al

 Saturday Williamson Archives

Continuing my attempt to show all 130+ stories done by Al Williamson for Atlas Comics, here is the second one, from Western Outlaws #11, October 1955. The dialogue has some of the characteristics of Stan Lee's writing, but he didn't sign it.

You Can Call Me Ready

Saturday Williamson Day. 

 Following a discussion online on the work of Al Williamson I had a look at the work the former EC artist did for the Timely/Atlas group under editors (and often writer in this case*) Stan Lee. I was shocked to see at Atlastales.com that Williamson did over 130 stories for them. Some have been collected a couple of years ago (I believe that the current book from Flesk is a reprint of that). But that is even less than a fraction from what is out there. Perfectly suited for this blog then. I am dowloading all of them from various sources and will start showing them once a week on saturday. In the order of their job numbers**.

 **Job numbers were the numbers attributed to each story for bookkeeping purposes, at the moment a story was assigned to an artist. From that moment on, the payment and handling of the story could be tracked inhouse. It is not always the order in which they were printed, differences may accur. 

*As Timely/Atlas connaisseur found out: although Stan Lee edited the whole Timely/Atals line from 1945 onwards (sometimes using other sub-editors for different genres, such as Don Rico for war or Al Jaffee for his own romance books), he oversaw them all. That means he had his hand in everything, but not that he wrote everything as some people used to suggest. In fact Stan Lee signed (almost) everything he wrote and he wrote everything he signed (at least in the forties and fifties). My own research into Stan's writing style confirms that. 

And now... on with the show! The first job AL Williamson did for Stan Lee was G-469 and it was published in Two-Gun Kid #25 in September 1955. The main art (three stories) was done by C. F. (Chuck) Miller. It is a transitional story, with Williamson on the cusp of the style that would become his won for the next few years. 

 

 

 

The Horror Of The Mundane

Sunday Meskin Measures (Roussos Edition).

I am taking a small sidesteop from the GE book to show you a short early story by George Roussos for Timely/Atlas.

Oh, The Horror!

Friday Comic Book Day.

I am selling my Timely books on Ebay at a slow and steady pace. At the moment I have the first of a few lots up with my Marvel Tales issues from the fifties, Timely's golden age of horror. Among them is a very poor book, without a cover even. So I am showing it here in full, not from my own scans, but an online copy, with the cover.

I particulary like the odd styles that were allowed in these books. Among comic book historians there was the idea that EC was the only company that allowed their artists to use their own style, but in fact it was mostle DC who had a strict visual editorial policy. Stan Lee got his art everywhere and he liked it (or didn't care) if every story looked different. He also allowed artists to sign their work, although he apparently didn't mind if they did not want to.

Followers of this blog know I am a huge fan of the mid fifties work of Gorge Tuska. This story shows all his strengths. In fact, both the theme and it's handeling suggest that this could be a Stan Lee story, who like working with Tuska. But teher are no other hints supporting this. Stan Lee wrote in batches and there are no other Lee stories surrounding this job number.

Martin (or Marty) Rosenthall was a comci book artist with a very small output. Among fans he is best known for working alongside Ross Andru and Mike Esposito on their selfpublished titles under the MikeRoss imprint, mostly inking Ross Andu and signing as Thall. In an interview in Alter Ego a couple of years ago, he told the interviewer he had even invested in their company with money he had gotten from his mother.

Chuck Winter's style is just plain weird. He was not suited to very much except horror comics and even then only in limited doses. He was a graduate from the Iger shop, where drawing abillity does not have been the primary requisite. Steven Thompson mentions that he was a jazz age advertising artist and he may have gotten back to that. There are no credits for his work after the fifties and also no mention if he is still with us or not. probably not, because it seems he was an older artist by the time this story was made.

Tony DiPreta deserves a book of his onw, so varied and long lasting was his career. He is now mostly remembered for his run on joe Plaooke from the ealry sixties onward. But before that he did all sorts of stuff, including a long run as a regular on Gleason's crime comics of the forties. But the work he did for Stan Lee and the atmospheric style he adopted for this, is the most inspired of his career to me. And at least it looks most like a personal style.