Black Knight, no. 5
Wielding an ebony blade forged by Merlin, the Black Knight was created by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely in this Atlas Comics title, which only ran for five issues. Taking place during the reign of King Arthur, the comic blends medieval romance with ideas more commonly associated with superheroes. When not in the Black Knight armor, the main character masquerades as the cowardly Sir Percy of Scandia. A heroic descendant of this Black Knight character would be introduced in Marvel's <em>The Avengers</em> #48 (1968). The cover of this issue was drawn by Joe Maneely, who died in 1958 at the age of 32. Stan Lee remarked that "he would have been another Jack Kirby . . . the best you could imagine." (Reference: "Joe Maneely," Lambiek Comiclopedia, 30 Jan. 2017. https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/maneely_joe.htm )
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Lee, Stan, 1922-2018 (Editor)
Penciler & Inker: Maneely, Joe, 1926-1958
Colorist: Goldberg, Stan
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First Romance, no. 39
According to Michelle Nolan, romance comics saturated the newsstands in 1950, resulting in "the Love Glut. In 1950, publishers kissed off no fewer than 117 of 147 romance titles" (62). Harvey's <em>First Romance</em> was one of the titles to survive. This particular issue of <em>First Romance</em> reprints stories of heartbreak and true love from First Romance #22 (1953), along with features like "Clothing Closeups," which instructs readers in fashion conventions, such as "Concealment is better than revealment!" While many genre comics are overtly fictional, this romance comic opens with a statement that its first story, "Heartbreak in Hollywood," is "dramatically, sensationally TRUE!" (Reference: Michelle Nolan, <em>Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics</em>. Jefferson: McFarland, 2008.)
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Harvey, Leon H. (Leon Harvey), 1901- (Editor)
Avison, Al, 1920-1984 (Penciler & Inker)
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Forbidden Worlds, no. 42
One of American Comics Group's longest-running titles, <em>Forbidden Worlds</em> featured tales of alien visitors from other planets, time travel, and other strange happenings. Perhaps most notable about this issue is its cover, by ACG artist Ogden Whitney. Whitney would go on to create the character Herbie, sometimes known as the superhero Fat Fury, in the pages of <em>Forbidden Worlds</em>, eventually resulting in the character's own series in the 1960s. As Dan Nadel notes, Whitney developed a curiously familiar yet emblematic art style: "Every boss is bald and plump and chomps a cigar, every businessman looks like Rock Hudson, and every office and home is straight out of the Sears catalog." This makes the strange events on the cover even more uncanny, as they seem to be happening to such typical, ordinary figures. (Reference: Dan Nadel, "Sucker Punch," <em>Bookforum</em> (Feb/Mar 2009). https://www.bookforum.com/print/1505/-3291)
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Hughes, Richard E., 1909-1974 (Editor)
Whitney, Ogden, 1918- (Penciler & Inker)
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Gunsmoke Western, no. 34
As they were on television and in cinema, Western were quite popular in 1950s comics. This issue of <em>Gunsmoke Western</em> features two recurring Western heroes, Kid Colt and Billy Buckskin. While Billy Buckskin would quickly fade out of Atlas's Western titles, Kid Colt was a mainstay along with Atlas's other "kid" Western heroes, Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid. The <em>Kid Colt Outlaw</em> series ran 225 issues from 1948 to 1979, during which Atlas Comics changed its name to the now more familiar Marvel Comics. The cover of this issue is drawn by John Severin who, along with his sister Marie Severin, worked in the comic book industry from the 1940s to the 2000s.
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Lee, Stan, 1922-2018 (Editor)
Severin, John (Penciler & Inker)
Goldberg, Stan (Colorist)
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Little Archie, no. 1
This Archie Comics series was initially written and penciled by Bob Bolling, with inks by Bob White, and it would be published with some name changes until 1983. Featuring child versions of the teenage Archie characters, this first issues of the series draws on classic Archie themes, such as romance and driving, but puts a childish and slapstick-driven spin on them. In later years, the series would take shift to spookier subject matter, focusing less on romance and more on horror. As Bart Beaty notes, "<em>Little Archie</em> was considerably darker than anything else that Archie Comics published [in the 1960s], ironic given the fact that the title seemed intended for readers who were presumed to be too young for the regular series" (170). (Reference: Bart Beaty, <em>Twelve-Cent Archie</em>. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2015.)
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Shorten, Harry (Editor)
Bolling, Bob (Penciler)
White, Bob (Inker)
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Mad, no. 27
<em>Mad</em> was initially a comic book, and it converted to a magazine format in 1955 with issue #24. The elaborate frame on this cover was drawn by Harvey Kurtzman, <em>Mad's</em> founding editor, and it features the magazine's mascot, Alfred E. Neuman, and his catchphrase, "What, me worry?" Jack Davis painted the cover, which depicts the "new year" 1956 walking through a crowd of caricatures. As William Stout notes, "Davis developed the ability to draw, design, and clearly organize vast humorous crowds in a single picture, a skill that would pay off enormously once he started painting movie posters" (5). Indeed, Davis would go on to draw not just movie posters, but also album covers and illustrations for <em>Time</em> and <em>TV Guide</em>. (Reference: William Stout, "Jack Davis: Master of the Quick Draw," <em>Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture</em>. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 2011. 5-7.)
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Kurtzman, Harvey (Editor)
Davis, Jack, 1924-2016 (Penciler & Inker)
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Marines in Battle, no. 11
This war comic contains three stories about the Korean War, one story about World War II set in the Pacific, and a story about 19th-century Marines in the "South Seas." Typical of war comics at this time, Marines in Battle offers a mix of historical detail and propagandistic rhetoric in its stories. Artist John Severin's signature is visible on left side of the cover illustration. As Steven Belletto has noted, the Korean War has a "symbolic value in the Cold War" context in which this comic, and many others, were created (56). Accordingly, the Korean War here is another struggle that American soldiers are waging in the name of freedom and against the forces of evil. (Reference: Steven Belletto, "The Korean War, the Cold War, and the American Novel," <em>American Literature</em> 87.1 (March 2015): 51-77.)
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Stephen+Neil+Cooper+Synchronic+Comic+Book+Collection%2C+CARCSC-055">Stephen Neil Cooper Synchronic Comic Book Collection, CARCSC-055</a>
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Lee, Stan, 1922-2018 (Editor)
Severin, John (Penciler & Inker)
Goldberg, Stan (Colorist)
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Mystery Tales, no. 40
This issue of <em>Mystery Tales</em> was featured in an episode of the TV series <em>Lost</em> in 2008 ("Cabin Fever," Season 4, Episode 11). Along with that bit of strange coincidence, the issue contains a number of strange stories, including famed comics artist Steve Ditko's "March Has 32 Days," about an inspector who mysteriously relives a day so as to prevent a bridge collapse. The cover of this issue is drawn by Carl Burgos, who created the original Human Torch in 1939. As Sean Howe notes, "Burgos's low-budget primitivist style only increased the sense that the flimsy buildings, cars, and people the Torch encountered were hastily constructed only to be destroyed in short measure" (13). That same ephemerality applies to the floating "Hidden Land" on this cover. (Reference: Sean Howe, <em>Marvel Comics: The Untold Story</em>. New York: Harper, 2012.)
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Lee, Stan, 1922-2018 (Editor)
Burgos, Carl (Penciler & Inker)
Goldberg, Stan (Colorist)
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Pat Sullivan's Felix the Cat, no. 70
Felix the Cat first appeared in animated films in 1919. Produced by the Pat Sullivan studio and drawn by Otto Messmer, Felix the Cat has been a mainstay of popular culture since that moment, and began appearing in a syndicated newspaper comic strip in 1923. As Nicholas Sammond has argued, Felix borrowed directly from the conventions of minstrelsy and vaudeville performance, from the cat's facial expressions and movements to the world in which his adventures take place: "It was nowhere and everywhere, ephemeral and immanent" (117). (Reference: Nicholas Sammond, <em>Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation</em>. Durham: Duke UP, 2015.)
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Stephen+Neil+Cooper+Synchronic+Comic+Book+Collection%2C+CARCSC-055">Stephen Neil Cooper Synchronic Comic Book Collection, CARCSC-055</a>
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Harvey, Leon H. (Leon Harvey), 1901- (Editor)
Oriolo, Joe (Penciler)
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Paul Terry's Adventures of Mighty Mouse, no. 129
Paul Terry created Mighty Mouse as one of the many characters in his Terrytoons Studio. Mighty Mouse stories featured the caped hero saving the day and foiling the plans of diabolical villains. Those stories are accompanied in this comic by other featuring Terrytoons Studio characters such as Dimwit Dog, Dinky Duck, and the magpies Heckle and Jeckle.
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