Number 923


Atlas animal antics


I had more fun than usual putting together this post. For over a year I have been wanting to use the Bob Powell story, "Talking Dog," from Marvel Tales #133, 1955. It was while going through some other Atlas post-Code comic books that I found a few more short-short stories where animals are prominent.





"Where Dinosaurs Dwell" is from another Marvel Tales, issue #143, from 1956. It's a time-travel story featuring a big green dinosaur. That would have gotten my attention when I was a kid, had I seen it. It's drawn by Bob Forgione and Jack Abel.





Strange Tales #66, from 1958, has yet another talking dog story, "Voice of Fido," drawn by Werner Roth. In this case the dog's voice is provided by the ventriloquist...or is it?



"The Flying Horse," drawn by Ed Winiarski, and scanned from Uncanny Tales #37, 1955, has a surprise last panel that actually surprised me.




Finally, an oddball tale by Howie Post (Spooky, Hot Stuff, etc.), telling a shaggy dog story in his shaggy drawing style. This is from Marvel Tales #131, 1955, the last pre-Comics Code issue of this title. Atlas was switching away from horror to more "acceptable" stories, but even so, the whipping wouldn't have made it past the blue noses at the new Comics Code. The characters are werewolves from the moon (!) Werewolves were also prohibited by the CCA, who was just no damn fun at all.

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Number 387


Let's have a cheer for ol' P.U.


The college football season has been upon us for a few weeks, and like a lot of fans I'm following my team's progress. Of course the guys on my college football team aren't like these football players from Crazy #3, 1953. They wouldn't accept money or favors for being spoiled, pampered, coddled football stars. Oh, noooooo, I'm sure that isn't happening on my team.

The story is drawn by Joe Maneely. Following up is a 3-pager by, I believe, Howie Post. Yesterday I guessed the artists of two Fiction House stories, and today I'm guessing again. Whatever, the artwork on both stories depends a lot on penwork, one of the trademarks of both Maneely and Post.

After the stories check out another comic artist mystery.

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This past weekend I found a 78 RPM record album with a cover signed "Sinnott". The copyright date on the album is 1948.

According to a biography, Joe Sinnott was attending school at the time and assisting Tom Gill on Western stories. He began soloing at Atlas in 1950. I'm leaning toward this artwork as being "our" Joe Sinnott based on the signature. The capital "s", the tilt of the lettering and curvature of the signature is the giveaway for me. The top example of his signature is from a 1956 comic book story, and the bottom is enlarged from the album cover.

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Number 188

The Not-Quite-Kelly


Howie Post is one of those comic artists who worked in the business for so many years his work is everywhere. This particular strip, from DC's Animal Antics* #9, July-August 1947, was drawn when Post was only 21 years old, based on his birth year of 1926. He started in comics when he was still in his teens, not as young as Joe Kubert or Frank Frazetta, but still a prodigy, as far as I'm concerned.

In his later career Post did a daily syndicated comic strip called The Dropouts, and Harvey Comics are filled with his pages, mostly in Hot Stuff. The Little Devil and Spooky, The Tuff Little Ghost. He has a very appealing style, full of action and humor, as this page from a 1976 issue of Hot Stuff shows.

Post's early art was inspired by Walt Kelly. According to Post he met with Kelly and comic book packager Oscar Lebeck about doing work for them. His method of inking and penciling was inspired by Kelly, but different enough that it is wholly Post. "Presto Pete" is a funny animal magician strip. I think it's quite good. I don't know if Post wrote his own material, but it's well done. Rather than being a clone of Walt Kelly, Howie Post went on to develop his own style, instantly recognizable. That is until he invented Anthro for DC Comics in 1968, where he went from funny devils, funny ghosts and funny animals to funny cavemen.

*Post mistakenly calls Animal Antics a book he packaged for Timely (Marvel), rather than DC in his TwoMorrows interview from Comic Book Artist #5. This is the danger of interviews with artists who have fallible memories stretching back five or six decades, or even more.

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