L. B. Cole's artwork is vivid and memorable. His comic book covers are rich with color and radiate excitement and a sense of pulp adventure. Gladstone Comics, then publishers of mostly Disney comics wanted to push into other areas and created the Hamilton Magazine brand. Dick Tracy was another Gladstone character, at the time also a Disney project starring Warren Beatty. Gladstone/Hamilton produced several Dick Tracy books including this one-shot Dick Tracy Magazine featuring an L.B. Cole cover.
It's an offbeat but typically memorable rendition of Chester Gould's great comic strip detective, especially his highly detailed clenched fists.
Also on the Hamilton roster were a trio of horror magazines which tried pretty successfully to evoke a vintage E.C. Comics feel. Dread of Night was one of these magazines.
This cadaverous cover art is reported to be Leonard Brandt Cole's final comic cover art. Typically both eye-popping and eye-catching, the art reveals more and more detail as you continue to grok it. I especially like the frog which counterpoints and even appears to be mocking the emerging grave dweller. It's a doozy!
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