Although I am still a long way from having a complete run, I do have a couple more scans from Frank Giacoia's JOhnny Reb strip. I have added all the strips I have, sometimes twice because the hlf page and tabloid versions both had other stuff cut from the basic page - so you need both to see the whole thing. I only have a couple of amples from the late '57, early '58 period that Jack Kirby pencilled a storyline, because the whole of that can be seen on the website of the Kirby Museum.
Thanks so much for your numerous entries showcasing the work of Frank Giacoia, including "Johnny Reb and Billy Yank" (which makes one think of Tufts' much-anticipated "Lance" coming soon from Classic Comics Press) and the rare "Thorn McBride" and "Sherlock Holmes" strips. I have "Book One" and "Book Two" (of the supposedly 4-volume complete release) of Giacoia's 1954-1956 "Sherlock Homes" (black and white Sundays and dailies) which are quite enjoyable, except for the fact that the cheap softcover binding of Malibu Graphics, Inc. keeps coming apart!
ReplyDeleteTwo major disappointments with those books: a. that they never finished them and b. that the DSunday was so badly integrated in the storyline, repeating about 75% of the daily story but still in such a way you couldn't drop it either. I;'d collect it and show it here if it wasn;t so expensive (probably because of the Sherlock connection).
ReplyDeleteI think some of the strips you reprinted were ghosted by Mike Sekowsky.
ReplyDeleteFrank Giacoia used many oencillers. including indeed Mike Sekowsky. On some occasions he also used Gil Kane and Carmine Infantino, although I am not sure they are in this lot.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks Ger and Doccomix for the information - makes viewing the "head artist"'s work that much more enjoyable!
ReplyDeleteLook to the Kirby pages to see what Giacoia could add. Not withstanding his reputation, let's not forget Carmine Infantino called him the best artist he knew in the early fifties.
ReplyDeleteI know Sekowsky assisted Giacoia on the Sherlock Holmes strip; writing credit went to Edith Meiser, who scripted the Holmes radio show (the NY-produced version with John Stanley - not that one - as Holmes).
ReplyDeleteThanks rnigma (I hope Ger doesn't think this thread's going on too long but it's a lot of fun!) Tom Mason, who edited the Malibu volumes states in #2: "Meiser's work on...radio adaptations of Holmes has been singled out by scholars as some of the most outstanding examples of any radio version...[which]...made her an excellent choice to script the comic strip." He also spoke of Giacoia's style generally: "He never overpowered the original penciller but enhanced the work with a vibrant, slick line."
ReplyDeleteI never gave enough atention to Giacoia's Sherlock because I thought it had been collected properly. When I foun dout it hadn't I discovered that because of the Holmes connection the individual tear sheets a very hard to come by and usually very expensive. I'd say there's room for a complete collection.
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