Wayne Howard was born on today's date in 1949. He was a potent artist for Charlton Comics in the early 70's on their ghost books even launching Midnight Tales where he corralled the best of Charlton's young talent to contribute. Howard was one of many artists who began as an assistant to Wally Wood, something which can be seen readily in Howard's style.
Wayne Howard is one of those eccentric talents who tapped into something special. An acolyte of Wally Wood, there's no denying Howard's debt to the work of Wood. He was an assistant to the great man himself for a time. But then he went and took that "Woodesque" approach and carved out his own niche.
At Charlton he found a place he could thrive. His earliest work has a really full-bodied character to it. In later years his work became a bit flatter in its way, losing some of the vitality of the early days. But he never lost the charm that infused his characters. They always had distinct qualities that enlivened them.
Howard found some small success as an inker for the Big Two, but his work is mostly found at Charlton where he even created his own title, the reasonably successful Midnight Tales. For eighteen glorious issues he oversaw a ghostly book like few others. Talents like Joe Staton and Don Newton contributed regularly and along with Howard gave this book its own distinctive flavor. But what set this book apart were the tremendous gags used for the detailed covers. They are one-offs and not necessarily connected to any particular story inside the book.
At Charlton he found a place he could thrive. His earliest work has a really full-bodied character to it. In later years his work became a bit flatter in its way, losing some of the vitality of the early days. But he never lost the charm that infused his characters. They always had distinct qualities that enlivened them.
Howard found some small success as an inker for the Big Two, but his work is mostly found at Charlton where he even created his own title, the reasonably successful Midnight Tales. For eighteen glorious issues he oversaw a ghostly book like few others. Talents like Joe Staton and Don Newton contributed regularly and along with Howard gave this book its own distinctive flavor. But what set this book apart were the tremendous gags used for the detailed covers. They are one-offs and not necessarily connected to any particular story inside the book.
Wayne Howard passed away in 2007, too young. He'd left comics behind and avoided talking about them. But those of us who are his fans will never forget them. Here's what Mark Evanier had to say about this talent. Here's a link to a site where you can read some of those great stories.
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Lovely covers . Sadly I didn't see or pick up many issues ( only a couple) of Midnight Tales . I wasnt aware he passex away so young.
ReplyDeleteLoved this one when it was hitting the stands. I keep meaning to do a close look at these issues and it keeps getting pushed back.
DeleteLove this little series and Howard's work. It had a certain something that some of the stories in other Charlton horror titles lacked, probably due to Howard as well.
ReplyDeleteThe early issues always seemed to have a theme, if it was somewhat strained at times. That fell off as the series rumbled along. I'm a huge fan of the Charlton horror titles of this era, and if I were to do any large-scale collecting now, it would be to put together a full run of Dr. Graves. I have a bunch, but not all.
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