I first fell in love with the original Black Knight in the pages of Fantasy Masterpieces and Marvel Super-Heroes when the Atlas-era adventures of Sir Percy of Scandia were reprinted alongside those of other Marvel heroes. There was something about the stories of the Black Knight which were special, and that was the artwork of Joe Maneely.
Joe Maneely was immediately one of my favorite artists, as his nearly glowing pages, filled with detail told stories with economy and potency. He was a deft hand and I wondered why he was not doing more, then I read of his tragic accidental death. He was reputedly Stan Lee's favorite artist and if he had not passed away, it's entirely likely that instead of Jack Kirby, Stan might've gone a different way when he decided to give the world of superheroes another shot.
The Black Knight's legacy was also developed in the pages of The Avengers as Roy Thomas brought the character back as a hero. The Black Knight had been a villain but Thomas gave us Dane Whitman, a scientist who became a practitioner of sorcery when got the ebony blade of his ancestor Sir Percy. The Black Knight always seemed to be on the perimeter of the Marvel Universe, an Avenger but rarely seen. He was even turned to stone for several years. He eventually became a mainstay and I have to say I usually liked his appearances.
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I couldn't agree with you more about Maneely. I had the pleasure of looking over his work in the '55 series in preparation for an upcoming Black Knight post of my own--and, like yourself, I remember at first thinking how strange that I wasn't running across his name in any '60s titles. It was disheartening to learn of his untimely death, just when he might have had such a remarkable influence on not only Marvel Comics but perhaps other companies as well.
ReplyDelete(Isn't it cool how Ron Frenz's 2010 figure of the Knight pays homage to the MS-H Purcell/Romita work from '68. Thanks for posting that. :) )
You are most welcome. Frenz is a dandy artist, my kind of artist and his Knight is a dandy one. Maneely's passing was untimely indeed, a fine artist.
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I encountered Maneely in those reprints as well. He was really prolific, though apparently the lousy rates and having to support a family drove him to perhaps produce a bit too much and (this is speculation) may have put him in a dazed enough state to take a wrong step on that last train ride.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated the extended piece on Maneely that ran in the MMW Black Knight/Yellow Claw reprint book. Author Michael Vassalo was supposed to be expanding it into a full-blown biography, but it has yet to materialize.
Some of Maneely's covers for the Western comics are amazing. I have that Black Knight volume and might have to dig it out to give that article another going over -- thanks for the reminder.
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