Number 1347: It’s a jungle out there

Here’s another of my “Crime Wave” selections. You may remember a few weeks ago I told you that I had planned on introducing a new blog to show just crime comics stories, but decided I was too lazy busy to do it justice. So occasionally I'll be showing crime stories under this logo just so my plan won’t go totally to waste.

“The Jungle.” a story of a prison escape, is from Crime and Punishment #43 (1951). It’s drawn by the under-rated Robert Q. Sale, who worked in comics for a few years, and did excellent work for several companies. The Lambiek Comiclopedia gives Sale another name, Robert Q. Siegel, which I assume was his birth name. Also according to Lambiek, he died in 1962 at the very young age of 38. The story I had heard about Sale was for a time he shared studio space with Harvey Kurtzman, John Severin and Will Elder in the Charles William Harvey Studio.

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Number 1085


Police Action!


Atlas Comics' Police Action #1 is another of those comics I think is interesting enough to show all the stories. I'm guessing here, but I imagine it was published with "police" in the title, cops as heroes, to deflect criticism from the crime comics that had been getting the comics in trouble. Of course, even with the emphasis being on police, this is still a crime comic.

Atlas fave Joe Maneely did the outstanding cover. Robert Q. Sale, who was a studio mate for a time with Severin, Elder and Kurtzman, did the lead story. Sale was a good artist, but his faces can be grotesque, homely with popping eyes. His action-packed splash panel of "Riot Squad" is great.

John Forte, a favorite of mine, did the story, "Homicide." Forte was another journeyman comic book artist, coming into the field in 1940. He went from drawing fantasy at ACG to DC in 1961 to do "Tales of the Bizarro World" in Adventure Comics. When that was canceled he went on to draw "The Legion of Superheroes" until his death in 1965.

Paul Reinman, whose work on Green Lantern I showed last week, did the third story, set in Paris. Gene Colan did the last story; it suffers from poor reproduction, turning Colan's finer lines into inky blobs, but the elements of action art that are central to Colan's work are here.

Police Action lasted for seven issues, all dated 1954.

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Number 993


Don't make a spectacle of yourself


In our two stories today spectacles, meaning eyeglasses and not exhibitionist behavior, play a major part. They are similar, both from Atlas horror comics: "Spectacles of Doom" by Bill Everett and "The Last Look" by Robert Q. Sale. "Last Look" I showed a few years ago, but have re-scanned it for you.

Bill Everett had some fun with "Spectacles of Doom," drawing some very funny characters. I love Everett mixing cartoon exaggeration into his art. Robert Q. Sale was another veteran comic book artist, who at one time shared studio space with Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder and John Severin. He also mixed in some comic exaggeration--check out his graveyard dead on the last page, with their lolling tongues, or the cucumber-nose baby--and gave a nod to Kurtzman with panel four of page four, which is an homage to "Smilin' Melvin" by Wally Wood from Mad #7.

From Marvel Tales #94, 1949:






From Mystic #31, 1954:

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Number 602


Do two half-men make up one whole man?


I noticed the title similarity to these Atlas Comics stories, but the titles are all that's alike. "Half Man, Half...?" is from Menace #10, 1954. "Half Man" is from Uncanny Tales #22, but my scans are from the 1970s reprint in Crypt of Shadows #9.

"Half Man, Half...?" is drawn by Robert Q. Sale, a staple of the Atlas bullpen. At one time Sale shared studio space at the Charles William Harvey studios with Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, John Severin and Charlie Stern. This 1949 cartoon illustration by Severin is from The Art of Harvey Kurtzman, The Mad Genius of Comics by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle.

Sale is seated with his back to us, and is singing along with a radio commercial. It's said that Sale stuttered, but could sing radio jingles with no impediment.

"Half Man" is an allegory about Jim Crow and the treatment of African-Americans in the U.S. after returning from World War II. They rightfully felt they'd be recognized for their service and given full rights as citizens. Even in 1954 when dealing with such subject matter as race, the main characters shown are white. It undercuts the point, but publishers tread a little more lightly in those days when they were scared of losing readers in areas of the country where segregation was the law.

"Half Man" is credited at the Atlas Tales website to "Fass?" which means Myron Fass, and the question mark means they aren't sure. I'm not familiar enough with Myron Fass' comic art to make a determination, but I know a bit about Fass's later life as a publisher of sleazy and exploitation magazines, including the Eerie Publications line. You can read about Myron Fass here.











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Say what?

I could take you more seriously if you'd stop wearing mouse ears.

From Atomic War #3.

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