Chuyển đến nội dung chính

Maurice Bramley

There are plenty of twists and turns on the road of comic books and their history, many of which are both unusual and fascinating. For instance take Maurice Bramley, a name I suspect few recognize. His involvement drawing Marvel characters is largely unknown because he worked for an Australian company, Horwitz, in the 1950s and 1960s, pencilling many covers based on the originals by artists like John Severin and Jack Kirby. Horvitz reprinted stories of Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Ringo Kid and Apache Kid, as well as war and superhero stories, and reprinted other companies work as well. For a more detailed history of Howvitz, accompanied by examples of many Bramley covers, please go to this wonderful site:

         http://www.ausreprints.com/content/?skin=14685

While Bramley was often reworking the original covers, unlike artists that copy the styles of those artists, he brings a personality of his own to the artwork. Bramley's work has a distinct charm and he reinterpets many cover scenes with a decided flair. Bramley was not a young kid breaking into comics, indeed, he had worked in commerical art and magazine illustration for years before he drew any comic books. To learn more about Bramley, go here:

    http://www.ausreprints.com/content/?skin=14685

Horwitz appears to have ended publication in 1965, so many of the later Marvel Super Hero stories were not printed there, but they did reprint early issues of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Human Torch, Daredevil and Ant-Man. Its interesting to see Bramley's interpretations of the characters. There is an old world charm to his art and it fits well with the odd conglomeration of heroes.



Maurice Bramley's cover for Daredevil # 1, Horwitz, 1965. Based on the original by Jack Kirby and Bill Everett. While closely resembling the Kirby/Everett DD figure there are enough touches to make this one interesting on its own, including the boxing scene added in the lower left hand corner.

Not only did Branley draw covers for Horvitz, he also pencilled new stories as fillers in the interior. Unfortunately none featured Marvel characters, although I would have liked to see him working on a Human Torch or Ant-Man tale.



Maurice Bramley's cover to Two-Gun Kid # 40, Horwitz, signed in the lower right hand corner.


 In researching Bramley and Horwitz publishing, I discovered Danny Best wrote about him in detail on his blog some years ago, so I bow to his greater knowledge in this area and point you to those posts:


A talented artist who did exciting work outside of comics, Bramley transitioned into the business, bringing an unusual style and quality to his work. Bramley is another fascinating piece of the comic book puzzle, one that continues to unearth new areas of exploration.     

Nhận xét

Bài đăng phổ biến từ blog này

More Kirby War: Battle

For my 50th post (I never thought I'd make it this far!) I will examine the 10 stories Jack Kirby produced for Battle , an Atlas comic that originated in 1951 and ceased publication in 1960.   In 1959, concurrent with his output on monster, western and romance stories, Kirby was assigned a number of compelling war stories. Based on a thorough reading it appears that Kirby scripted as well as drew many of the pre-1960 stories (an examination of possible scripts in other genre stories will appear at a later date). There are many similarities in style, tone, emphasis of words, phrases, use of quotation marks and sound effects that point to Kirby’s input. I will focus on these patterns as I go through each story.     "Action on Quemoy!" Battle # 64, June 1959, Jack Kirby story ? Kirby pencils; Christopher Rule inks, Job # T-266. The opening narration is similar to the style Kirby often employed; a long paragraph of exposition (which would be seen in many of his 1970s scripted

Etcetera, Etcetera

When Publisher Mark Hanerfeld found work at DC, The Comic Reader vanished for 22 months. Taking up the slack was another fanzine. Etcetera was published by Paul Levitz and Paul Kupperberg, and later solely by Levitz. Kupperberg would go on to write and edit for DC. You can read some great stories at his blog, including a few about his time working on Etc and meeting Carmine Infantino: http://kupps.malibulist.com/page/7/ Paul Levitz became a writer, editor and publisher at DC. Etcetera followed TCR by concentrating on news about DC and Marvel, listing coming comics and featuring reviews and columns. Etcetera # 3, May 1971 Along with Marvel and DC news, there was info on Skywald. Sol Brodsky (who left Marvel for a while to attempt this venture) and Israel Waldman teamed to produce horror mags such as Nightmare and Psycho , a few 25 cent color comics and Hell-Rider, which did not turn out to "shake up the industry as we know it" (it lasted two issues). Skywald employed many tal

Appreciating Don Heck

My introduction to Don Heck’s art began in the mid-1960s, when he was associated primarily with Marvel Comics' super-heroes, including  "Iron Man," "Ant-Man" and The Avengers . Reprints in Fantasy Masterpieces  educated me on Heck's stylish monster/science-fiction short stories, that while only six or seven years old, seemed like a discovery from an ancient age. As my collecting interests grew, I became aware of his facility in an array of genres, including romance, war and westerns. Through fanzines and interviews I learned of his beginnings, both the high-points and pitfalls of toiling in the comic book field.  Heck struggled at times to maintain his identity, and in later years didn't often get the choice assignments, passed over for younger, more popular artists, but his contributions to the field deserve recognition.          Don Heck’s earliest work appeared in 1952 at Comic Media. He contributed across the line in Weird Terror , War Fury,  Horrifi