Number 1500: New year, same old comics

For those of you joining us on New Year’s morning, how are you feeling? Tongue feel like someone stuffed a towel in your mouth? Head throbbing, joints aching, memory-loss from New Year’s Eve festivities? Well, go take a nap and come back when you feel better.

For the rest of you who did not over-indulge (including me), welcome to the first posting of 2014.

The Black Terror was a 1940’s character who had many artists over the years, and many adventures I consider silly. The Black Terror story I’m posting today, while silly, is one of my favorites. The art is credited by the GCD to Ralph Mayo and it has a gorilla. That’s good enough for me. I consider the panel I have excerpted from the story (above) to be some sort of oddball classic. The story is from Black Terror #20, 1947:

**********

I showed another Black Terror story last May. Click on the thumbnail.

More about →

Number 24

COVERING IT: Classic Golden Age Comics covers, Part 7

After World War II Alex Schomburg went from drawing superheroes beating up our foreign enemies to beating up our domestic enemies. He drew some mighty sexy girls, too.

This cover of Black Terror #20 from 1947 is a great example of what I'd call the VaVa Voom factor; guys seeing this cover on the newsstand would just naturally reach for their dime. Sex appeal was great on post WWII covers, especially prevalent with the crime comics of the era, but also available on even the teenage titles like Al Feldstein's Junior or even the venerable Archie.

I have read some of the Black Terror stories, and frankly, the covers needed to be hot to sell those books.

Schomburg worked in a couple of different styles, ink and airbrush. He either signed his work with his real name or as Xela. No matter what medium he worked in, what his subject matter was, no matter what name he used his covers were extremely well drawn and eye-catching. This is probably one of his top sexy covers.

Click on picture for larger image.

More about →