I've been in a Joe Maneely mood lately. Here are some more great covers by the Atomic Age talent. I think if anything stands out, it's his backgrounds. They are lively and worth paying attention to. Maneely was really good.
There isn't much online about Maneely, but there is a well-crafted biographical essay on Maneely by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo detailing how key to Atlas comics Maneely really was. Here's the link. Above is a photo of Maneely from the cover of Alter Ego #28, an issue dedicated to Maneely's work.
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Lee was said in "Tales to Astonish" that "he would have been another Jack Kirby. He would have been the best you could imagine".
ReplyDeleteI wonder how he could have changed the Marvel universe if he had lived and continued to work with Stan Lee. Times were tight at Altas/Marvel. People were laid off and I wonder if Goodman would have hired Kirby to come back to Marvel if he already had a capable artist in Maneely. Maybe Stan wouldn't have worked with Kirby to create the Fantastic Four. Maybe Stan wouldn't have worked with Kirby at all. Maybe we would be reading Superheroes created by the famed duo of Lee-Maneely. Or maybe there would not have been the creation of the Marvel Universe at all. Makes you wonder...