Michael D Hamersky On Comics Contemplates On...    Bob Powell During His Time At Marvel Comics! 1964 - 1965

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3803 -    Today's blog is on an artist that I haven't mentioned much in this Blog... Bob Powell.

Bob's history can be found at his Wikipedia entry, as seen here.

When I first read the comics he illustrated for Marvel Comics back in 1965, I didn't know about the years of artwork he had produced before.  Those artwork pages can be found at the Grand Comics Database.

Bob came to Marvel Comics when Stan Lee was looking for additional help in the expanding line of comics that Marvel started producing. 

He worked on the Giant-Man feature in Tales To Astonish (as seen to the left), Daredevil, The Human Torch & The Thing in Strange Tales, (as seen at the top right), and the Incredible Hulk in Tales To Astonish.

Bob had started in the Golden Age of Comics in 1938, so he was well versed in producing comics artwork before he came to Marvel in late 1964.

Actually he had worked for Timely / Atlas Comics in the 1950s, (Marvel Comics' earlier name), and had illustrated two Sub-Mariner stories during that period, among a lot of other work.

When he came to Marvel though... He only co-plotted the stories and penciled the artwork.  His pencils were inked by others. 

I remember when he came to the new Giant-Man feature in Tales To Astonish #65.  It was a good debut, with his pencils being inked by Don Heck. Bob continued penciling the Giant-Man feature, but the sales did not improve, thus leading to the Sub-Mariner taking over Giant-Man's spot in the title.

While this was going on, Bob also penciled the Human Torch & the Thing in Strange Tales, starting with issue #130, when they 'Meet the Beatles!'.   I found Bob's artwork to be fine... But he was following my favorite Dick Ayers on the strip.

Unfortunately, both of Bob's strips were replaced during the same month of publication.  I already mentioned that Giant-Man was replaced by Sub-Mariner... And then in Strange Tales, the Human Torch & the Thing were replaced by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Then, Bob was added to the Daredevil title, on issue #9, where he inked Wally Wood's pencils. He stayed on the title till issue #11, with him doing the pencils and Wood inking him.

As a last title that Bob worked on during the Marvel Age of Comics, he worked on two issues of Tales To Astonish on the Hulk strip.  But here he worked over Jack Kirby layouts with Mike Esposito inks.  Just issues #73-74, from November / December of 1965,

That was the last of the Marvel Comics that Bob worked on.  Bob went on to work for M.F. Enterprises and Havey Comics, but passed away at a young age of 51 in 1967.

There was so much going on in 1964 - 1965 for me, the Earthquake & Tidal Wave in 1964 in Alaska, etc., and comic book distribution on Kodiak Island was a little spotty to say the least.  So Bob's working at Marvel Comics for about a year was kind of a blip to me.

It is only now, that I can appreciate the stories that he illustrated at Marvel Comics more, with a better understanding of his works from the Golden to the Silver Age of Comics!  

~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,803 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reflects On...   Paul Reinman   Comic Book Artist September 2, 1910 - September 27, 1988

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3795 -    I have been reading some back issues of Alter Ego, the magazine edited by Roy Thomas, and published by TwoMorrows Publishing this past week.

Which reminded me of my earlier years, when I first discovered comic books in the late 1950s and joined in on the Marvel Age of Comics in the early 1960s.

One of the comic book artists during this early time of my reading comic books was Paul Reinman.  Yes, for those of you that are reading this blog post, several of you may not know the name or his works.  I'm going to relay what I remember of those early days of my reading comic books.

You see, as evidenced by Paul's credits at Grand Comics Database, (GCD), Paul has over 1,400 credits to his name in comic books!

My earliest rememberances of Paul would be his work in the sci-fi 5 page stories that existed before Marvel's superheroes started in November of 1961.  Those included stories in Tales To Astonish, Tales of Suspense, Strange Tales, and Journey Into Mystery.

I had no idea that Paul was also submitting work to ACG, Prize, and Horwitz during that time period! See the GCD link for those.

Paul was also illustrating western tales in Kid Colt Outlaw, Two-Gun Kid, and Gunsmoke Western during that time, but not all of the stories were signed.

In Amazing Adventures #6 (dated November of 1961), Paul penciled and inked a Dr. Droom (not Dr Doom) story.

In Magic Agent #1 for ACG Paul penciled a few stories of the main character.  I didn't see this issue come out though...

Throughout early 1962, Paul was working for both Marvel Comics and ACG.  He turned to mostly inking for Marvel stories, while penciling for ACG into 1964.

As a matter of fact, Paul inked Jack Kirby's pencils on Incredible Hulk #1, X-Men #1-5, and Avengers #2, 3 & 5.  So Paul was pretty busy during that period.

As the years followed... I basically saw more of Paul outside of Marvel Comics, such as in The Shadow series by Archie Comics.  Issue #7 is shown above, cover dated July of 1965 when I was in Kodiak, Alaska.  Paul penciled and inked this cover, as well as most of the other issues in this eight issues series!

Paul also contributed to Tower Comics, including a NoMan story and a Dynamo story in 1968.

Paul basically stopped drawing in the 1970s, although his works have been reprinted by Marvel, and other publishers.

Paul never received the accolades while at Marvel Comics, which was my main emphasis of reading in the 1960s... His work is now in Marvel Masterworks books, so his work will be remembered.

For more reading on Paul Reinman, I'd suggest:

Paul's Wikipedia entry.

Paul's credist at Grand Comics Database.

Paul is also mentioned in a few of the Alter Ego magazines.

My thanks to Paul for his works when I was a kid growing up.  I for one, remember them...

 ~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,795 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reflects On...   Don Heck   Comic Book Artist January 2, 1929 – February 23, 1995

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3794 -    I have been reading some back issues of Alter Ego, the magazine edited by Roy Thomas, and published by TwoMorrows Publishing this past week.

Which reminded me of my earlier years, when I first discovered comic books in the late 1950s and joined in on the Marvel Age of Comics in the early 1960s.

One of the comic book artists during this early time of my reading comic books was Don(ald) Heck.  Yes, for those of you that are reading this blog post, several of you may not know the name or his works.  I'm going to relay what I remember of those early days of my reading comic books.

You see, as evidenced by Don's credits at the Grand Comics Database, Don has over 2,200 credits to his name in comic books!

My earliest knowledge of Don's works was in the sci-fi tales pre Fantastic Four #1.  Such as in Tales To Astonish #1 from January of 1959.  Those would be usually 5 page stories.  Nothing really that exciting to make Don's works stand out...

Then I saw the Ant-Man feature in Tales To Astonish! Jack Kirby had illustrated the first few issues, #35 - 40, but with issue #41 (in March of 1963), Don Heck took over the interior pages of the Ant-Man feature.  That continued until issue #49 when Ant-Man changed into Giant-Man!  Don continued with Giant-Man until issue #50, and then came back with issue #54 & #65.

I really enjoyed Don's artwork, (pencils & inks), on the Ant-Man strip. It seemed that his style was really suited for a minute super-hero!

Don also worked on the Invincible Iron Man which also started in March of 1963, when that featured was introduced in Tales of Suspense #39.  Don inked the cover and did the interior pages for the Iron Man pages.  He continued on the series, in TOS #39-40, 42-47, 50-72.  I thought his work on the Iron Man feature was pretty good, although when he inked his pencils, it was kind of 'scratchy', as seen in the top right scan of this blog. (From Tales of Suspense #46.)

Then, Don seemed to be involved mostly with the Avengers... starting with issue #9 in October of 1964 and running through issue #15, then #17-40 cover dated May of 1967.  He did other Avengers issues later.  The Avengers work he did were not my favorites, possibly because of the writing?

Actually Don had started in comics in 1949 at Harvey Comics, where he remained until 1952 when he joined Allen Hardy (also a Harvey Comics employee), when he started Comic Media publishing.  Don also did freelance assignments for comics publishers such as Quality Comics, Hillman Comics, and Toby Press. However, I wasn't familar with those works, just picking up on him in the pre-superhero days of what would become Marvel Comics. 

I didn't know it at the time, but Don became an Atlas staff artist on September 1, 1954.  Atlas Comics was the earlier name for Marvel Comics.  However, Don and many other artists lost their work at Atlas Comics during the Implosion of 1957.

Don had come back to Atlas Comics in 1958-59 where he illustrated many sci-fi stories, and then the Ant-Man, Iron Man, and Avengers features came his way.  Stan Lee had lost Joe Maneely due to his untimely death, and needed pages, so Don was one of the ones that Stan called back.

I lost track of Don about 1970, when he decided to work. for DC Comics, as work from Marvel was becoming scarce.  He actually moved to DC Comics in 1977 doing several features there into the 1980s. As I wasn't reading DC Comics at that time, I missed his work on The Flash, Justice League of America, and Wonder Woman.

Talking about 1970... Jack Kirby, when he also left Marvel for DC, had Don ink several of his proposals for DC Comics!   Matter of fact, it was said that Jack had wanted Steve Ditko, John Romita, and Don Heck do the illustrating of his New Gods / Fourth World concept for DC!

Before leaving Marvel for DC Comics, Don basically had drawn almost all of the Marvel main features, with the exception of the Fantastic Four.

I kind of forgot about Don in the 1970s -80s.  There was so much going on in the world of comic books.

I'm kind of glad to be writing this now, and posting it in the special photo album I've started at my Facebook Fan Page, titled: "Comic Book Artists and Writers".

For more on Don Heck, I'd suggest the following:

Wikipedia entry on Don Heck.

Grand Comics Database on Don Heck.

 ~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,794 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

---

Michael D Hamersky On Comics On...  John Tartaglione Comic Books Artist

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3786 -    I was reading another of the back issues of Alter Ego, (No. 33 published in February of 2004), yesterday, and came across a two page memorial spread on John Tartaglione...

I knew that John was a comic books artist, as I had read many Marvel Comics that had his inkwork in them.  I had liked his work on those pages, and had wondered about him at the time, but during those early days there wasn't an internet to find out more about him.

Alter Ego had a two-page write up on him, as a memorial, as he had passed a short time before, (January 14, 1921 – November 12, 2003).

He is best known for best known for his inking on Marvel Comics during the 1960s - 70s - 80s, but had started in the comics field back in the 1940s at Harvey Comics.

John then went to Bailey Publications where he worked on 'Copy Boy'.

By 1949 John was at Timely Publications (Marvel Comics' forerunner), where he worked on horror, adventure and crime comics.

In 1952 John started working on romance comics at Atlas Comics (also Marvel Comics' forerunner), and had several pseudonyms there.

I've mentioned the Atlas Comics Implosion of Spring 1957 several times in this blog...

John was also caught up in this event, so he went on to Charlton Comics and Gilberton, where he worked on Classics Illustrated.

Sometime in the 1960s, John was working at Dell Comics, on Ben Casey, Burke's Law, John F Kennedy, and Lyndon B Johnson titles.

In the mid-1960s John was back at Timely (now called Marvel Comics), where he was the inker on several features, including the Hulk in Tales To Astonish, Daredevil, Captain Marvel, Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos and others.  That is where I knew his work the best.

It was in the 1980s that John worked on two comics that gave him a more international appeal:  the biographies in comic book format of Mother Teresa and then the Life of John Paul II.

John retired, but was still working here and there in the comics industry.  Matter of fact, the week he died, his daughter finished his cartoon strip where he was inking Larry Lieber's pencils on the Spider-Man newspaper strip!

There are very few public photos of John, the one I used for this blog shows him at the right, and Joe Sinnott at the left.  Joe is a very talented inker also, as seen at his web site.

Here is a list of John's published credits, as seen at the Grand Comics Database.

You can read more about John's life at his Wikipedia entry.

I thought I would post a blog about John today, while the memorial pages are fresh in my mind.  Because if you read Marvel Comics, like I did back in my early days as a child... You would have been reading some of his works.

 ~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,786 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics On...    Warren Kremer - Comic Books Writer & Artist

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3785 -    I was reading one of the back issues of Alter Ego (No. 30 published in November of 2003), yesterday, and came across a name that I wasn't all that familiar with...

That would be Warren Kremer, a comic books writer and artist, (June 26, 1921 - July 24, 2003).

Alter Ego had a two-page write up on him, as a memorial, as he had passed a short time before.

He is best known for best known for his creation of the Harvey Comics characters Richie Rich, Hot Stuff the Little Devil and Stumbo the Giant.   As Harvey Comics didn't publish credits in their comics, his name was not well known outside of the comics industry.

Actually Warren worked for / at Harvey Comics for 35 years... Mostly as an art editor.

Where I knew his name was from his later work.  After Harvey Comics ended publishing in 1982, Warren Kremer created and/or drew several characters for Marvel Comics' Star Comics line, including Count Duckula, Ewoks, Planet Terry, Royal Roy, and Top Dog.

In 1986 Harvey Comics resumed publication under the leadership of Alan Harvey (Alfred Harvey's oldest son), focusing on a few core titles, digests, and reprints.  The story of Harvey Comics since then gets a little messy, so I'll stop at this point.

Warren in 1989, suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed on his left side, which included his drawing hand.  He did not draw professionally after that, and passed away in 2003. 

Checking my favorite search engines, I found more info on Warren, and the fact that there is a Facebook Fan Page for him, (as seen in this link).

There are few photos of Warren, the one I used for this blog shows him at the left, and Joe Simon at the right.

Here is a list of his published credits, as seen at the Grand Comics Database.

I thought I would post a blog about Warren today, while the memorial pages are fresh in my mind.  Because if you read Harvey Comics, like I did back in my early days as a child... You would have been reading some of his works.

 ~ Michael

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,785 total posts in number!   I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!

BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link!   Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

Note:  My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!  If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com!     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that!  The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.  Note:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:  Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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