Peerless Power of Comics!

Murphy Anderson 1926-2015                                   Illustration for the 1972 San Diego Comic Convention.  Murphy Anderson's career in the field of comics was defined by solid craftsmanship. Never a flamboyant artist, his technique was modeled on cartoonists he admired and learned from, including Lou Fine, Will Eisner and Alex Raymond. His earliest efforts appeared in the pages of Fiction House circa 1944. Anderson had an affinity for science fiction related material, drawing features "Star Pirate", "Suicide Smith" and assorted illustrations for their pulp line, including Planet Stories . One of Anderson's earliest assignments at Fiction House house was on the feature "Star Pirate" in Planet Comics # 33, November 1944, taking over from veteran George Tuska (after a one issue fill-in by Joe Kubert, another youngster who would become known for his work at DC). While the art is primitive it s...

Sol Brodsky was a long time artist, inker and production man at Marvel comics. Writer/Editor Stan Lee relied on his right hand man to make sure the trains ran on time but the entrepreneurial Brodsky also worked on outside projects including the Big Boy Restaurant promotional comics and editing the initial issues of Cracked magazine. When he was offered an opportunity to co-publish/edit a line of comic books and magazines with Hershel Waldman, who had published/packaged comics in the past, he left his production job with Lee's blessing. The new venture, entitled Skywald Publishing Corp. (for Sol BrodSKY and Israel WALDman) awaited. Through his contacts in the comics industry Brodsky knew many freelancers he could offer additional work. Some came directly from Marvel, including writer Gary Friedrich; artists Dick Ayers, Don Heck, Syd Shores, John Tartaglione, Frank Giacoia, Tom Palmer and letterers Sam Rosen and Jean Izzo. One important member of that entourage was Bill Everett. Ever...

Fifty years ago comic book stores didn’t exist. Instead, you could saunter over to the neighborhood newsstand, candy store, luncheonette or various other establishments to purchase the latest comics. If you followed any of Marvel’s output, letters pages and house ads would have announced the upcoming Annuals which appeared every spring/summer, a time chosen specifically to coincide with children being off from school. The reasoning was that they'd have a few extra quarters to spend while taking a family vacation or sitting under a tree with a coke on a lazy afternoon. In that long ago summer of 1965 Amazing Spider-Man Annual # 2  leaped off the racks, falling into the hands and back pockets of many a youth.  The understated simplicity of Ditko’s cover included what would become an iconic Spider-Man image; the full-figure pose was used as the corner symbol on the monthly Amazing Spider-Man title years after he was gone. The bold coloring, likely by Stan Goldberg, compliments ...