The Fantagraphics pre-code batch of horror tales titled Four Color Fear - Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950's is very entertaining. There's no Ditko in this volume, and I assume that because they figure they have that covered with their archives volumes and there are no EC Comics stories. But still there's an absolute nest of weird dark tales from a time when comics were potent juice indeed. This is a tome loaded with vampires, zombies, witches, and monsters of all kinds, the most deadly of which as always being man himself.
The art in this book is really really good, showing that not everything not published by EC Comics was dross by any means. The artists in this volume are legendary -- Joe Kubert, Frank Frazetta, Wally Wood, Jack Cole, Al Williamson, Warren Kremer, George Evans, Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, Reed Crandall, Rudy Palais, and Basil Wolverton among others. Many of these such as Nostrand, Cole, Wolverton, and Powell are represented by several offerings. These are weird, dark and often gory tales of horror and of the supernatural. Sometimes the innocent fall victim to the powers of darkness, but more often than not the victims are brought to some sort of cosmic justice.
Happy Halloween!
Rip Off
Wow scary stuff all excellently executed. The Witches tale cover is particularly horrific.
ReplyDeleteYou can see that there's a reasonably wide range of ways to make a weird and unsettling image.
Delete