ARCHIE COMICS #95 - Classic Artists of the Era

Whenever I find these early Archie Comics issues, especially pre-1960 in the $1 books, I HAVE to pick them up. Honestly, it's where they belong as there is only a handful of people who love and appreciate them. The Riverdale crowd isn't interested in this stuff and none of the artists are really 'hot' with the majority of collectors. Archie Comics is just kind of its own niche and I'm glad.

I mean... I look at this Harry Lucey cover and I'm so in awe of its perfection. Lucey was a smidge less cartoony than Dan DeCarlo, thus you get the attention to detail on Veronica's feet and sandals, Archie's feet, the stripes on Veronica's swimsuit (and Betty's) and the pattern on Archie's.

Even the radio and the lifeguard's chair. Man, I LOVE this cover.

(ARCHIE #95 cover-dated September 1958, on newsstands June 4th, 1958, with cover art by Harry Lucey)

Inside, his art is more in the 'house style' that Archie Comics incorporated, first introduced by Bob Montana, updated and modernized by Harry Lucey, then streamlined and perfected by Dan DeCarlo. Either way, Lucey's Betty and Veronica had smaller waists than any of the other Archie artists gave them...

(ARCHIE #95 cover-dated September 1958, on newsstands June 4th, 1958, with art by Harry Lucey)

What more could you ask for in an Archie comic, than a Harry Lucey cover, a Harry Lucey story and then a Dan DeCarlo story? By this point, DeCarlo had been drawing at Archie Comics for 7 years, and even though he was still the 'new guy' in the bunch (Vigoda and Lucey had been there, at this point for over 15 years), he fits in perfectly with the look of the line of books. 

(ARCHIE #95 cover-dated September 1958, on newsstands June 4th, 1958, with art by Dan DeCarlo)

It's rather amazing that really, in Archie Comics' long history with the characters, there's really only a handful of artists who worked on the book consistently. DeCarlo and Lucey were two of those legends. I'm not as big of a fan of Bill Vigoda's work, but he was there through the transformative years, and was the first to try and emulate Bob Montana's house style in the comic, so I'd include him (and of course Montana).

(ARCHIE #95 cover-dated September 1958, on newsstands June 4th, 1958, with art by Dan DeCarlo)

As sultry as Harry Lucey drew Betty and Veronica, Dan DeCarlo (who certainly had his past experience drawing bad girls) gave the two a more wholesome look, that was still sexy, but with a sweetness that fit the whole idea of Archie Comics and what they, especially post-Code wanted to portray. 

Harry Lucey is my favorite, but man, DeCarlo is amazing. 

(ARCHIE #95 cover-dated September 1958, on newsstands June 4th, 1958, with art by Dan DeCarlo)

In 1958, Harry Lucey was THE artist of Archie Comics as a brand in the Comic Books (Bob Montana had long since gone to 100% making the newspaper strip an iconic part of Americana), and here's a good example of one of his ads. 

(ARCHIE #95 cover-dated September 1958, on newsstands June 4th, 1958, with art by Harry Lucey)

Every so often I'd see a panel by Bill Vigoda and think, "Now THAT is really good!" This is one of those panels.

You have to give the guy credit, he was like the energizer bunny who kept going and going and going, taking on anything the company would give him to do. He started with MLJ in 1943, did his first Archie story in 1944 (a Betty and Veronica story in Archie Comics #10) and worked all the way through until 1973. 

I just realized, the guy doesn't even have a Wikipedia page... I need to do something about that...

(ARCHIE #95 cover-dated September 1958, on newsstands June 4th, 1958, with art by Bill Vigoda)

BATMAN ANNUAL #2 - Batman started out as Robin?

I found this beauty in $1 box. Like... when was I ever going to read a Batman Annual #2? I’m not a big Batman fan in the first place, but this is one that turned out to have a few surprises. It WAS, however, coverless, so... here's a reproduction...

(BATMAN ANNUAL #2 - Cover Dated Winter 1961 - on Newsstands November 16th, 1961 - cover art by Curt Swan, Sheldon Moldoff and Dick Sprang)

Ok... what's good about it? For one, most of these stories are drawn by Dick Sprang, who’s work in Batman I LOVE. It’s just so stylized in its own way, I almost love it as much as H.G. Peter, though I think Sprang probably has a better grasp of storytelling. 

Of course, they’re all listed as Bob Kane work in the book - we just now know it was guys like Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moldoff that we’re actually doing the work. 

What’s kind of a crock about this Annual - not that it matters now - but at the time, this was all reprints! If I was a regular Batman reader in 1961, I’d feel a little ripped off by that. At least give me ONE new story. 

(BATMAN ANNUAL #2 - Cover Dated Winter 1961 - on Newsstands November 16th, 1961 - Reprinted from Batman #86 - Cover Dated September 1954 - on Newsstands July 14th, 1954 with art by Dick Sprang but listed as Bob Kane)

The first story is kind of a hoot as Batman faces death from “The Bends” when he ventures too far underwater and the bad guy, “Slant” Stacey takes advantage of it. Of course, Batman comes up with all kinds of improbable ways around it. 

(BATMAN ANNUAL #2 - Cover Dated Winter 1961 - on Newsstands November 16th, 1961 - Reprinted from Batman #86 - Cover Dated September 1954 - on Newsstands July 14th, 1954 with art by Dick Sprang but listed as Bob Kane)

Sprang's art and style was hugely influential in the Batman TV show from the '60s and here you can practically see the into to the show where the host of bad guys are in line to get walloped by the Dynamic Duo.

(BATMAN ANNUAL #2 - Cover Dated Winter 1961 - on Newsstands November 16th, 1961 - Reprinted from Batman #86 - Cover Dated September 1954 - on Newsstands July 14th, 1954 with art by Dick Sprang but listed as Bob Kane)

Man, they must’ve run out of ideas for this strip by the mid-50’s, as the next couple of stories are Batman becomes a Scottish Lord, Batman becomes an Indian Chief, Batman and Robin become Jungle Adventurers, Batman the Magician, Super Power Batman ... ugh. 

(BATMAN ANNUAL #2 - Cover Dated Winter 1961 - on Newsstands November 16th, 1961 - Reprinted from Batman #86 - Cover Dated August 1953 - on Newsstands July 1st, 1953, with art by Dick Sprang but listed as Bob Kane)

(BATMAN ANNUAL #2 - Cover Dated Winter 1961 - on Newsstands November 16th, 1961 - Reprinted from Batman #86 - Cover Dated September 1954 - on Newsstands July 14th, 1954 with art by Sheldon Moldoff but listed as Bob Kane)

There’s also a Batman Calendar for 1962, though how you’re supposed to put this together with destroying your comic is beyond me. 

This DC Comic came out the same month as Amazing Adult Fantasy #9 featuring Tim Boo Ba! and in between Fantastic Four #2 and #3.

One that’s interesting is “When Batman was Robin”. It’s the obviously NOT canon story of how when Bruce Wayne was training to be a detective, his mentor gave him a Robin outfit and that’s how he got his start... though here it looks like the long lost mentor is coming back to reveal his secret identity. Not exactly canon at this point, but an interesting take for the time.

Unfortunately, the rest is a little too much of this:

(BATMAN ANNUAL #2 - Cover Dated Winter 1961 - on Newsstands November 16th, 1961 - Reprinted from Batman #86 - Cover Dated September 1954 - on Newsstands July 14th, 1954 with art by Dick Sprang but listed as Bob Kane)

BEWARE! The CLAWS of The CAT #1-4 - Social Justice with Good Art!

Beware the Claws of... The Cat! was a 1972 Comic Series that lasted 4 issues. It was a part of Stan Lee’s idea to expand readership to a female audience. Of course, today this would be seen as radical and liberal and social justice warrior activity and denounced as some declaration of war vs the male species. 

In reality, then like now, Marvel was just looking for more suckers to buy their comics. It didn’t work, unfortunately, and it’s a shame because this is a series I always liked. I didn’t find it in a dollar box (that’d be sweet), but I DID just reread it in the Tigra Softcover collection put out by Marvel, so I wanted to review it here.

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #1 cover-dated November 1972, on newsstands August 22nd, 1972, with cover art by Marie Severin with Inks by Wally Wood)

Issue #1 does the flashback origin while in the current story and the Marie Severin/Wally Wood art is a good combination. Legend has it that Wood turned in the art with the Cat completely naked and Marie had to add her costume and white out the naughty bits. 

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #1 cover-dated November 1972, on newsstands August 22nd, 1972, with art by Marie Severin with Inks by Wally Wood)

Writer Linda Fite, part of Marvel’s efforts to get female creators to take part in the project, does a good job of giving us a Marvel style story and setup... and even giving the female character a great deal more to her than we're used to for female characters...

 
(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #1 cover-dated November 1972, on newsstands August 22nd, 1972, with art by Marie Severin with Inks by Wally Wood)

The art though... tends to be a little more geared to the male reader...!

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #1 cover-dated November 1972, on newsstands August 22nd, 1972, with art by Marie Severin with Inks by Wally Wood)

The bad guy is set up well as a male chauvinist, making the Cat's victory even sweeter, but the whole point of it isn't to be too preachy... though I'm curious to know if Marie changed the look of the villain to resemble Wally Wood...?

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #1 cover-dated November 1972, on newsstands August 22nd, 1972, with art by Marie Severin with Inks by Wally Wood)

Ultimately they try and play the 'Peter Parker/Spider-man' angle, as they'd again try to do later on with Spider-Woman. Marvel had success with Spidey, so I guess they figured it wouldn't hurt to try it again on other characters...

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #1 cover-dated November 1972, on newsstands August 22nd, 1972, with art by Marie Severin with Inks by Wally Wood)

With #2 we get a Romita cover and Daredevil villain. Marvel liked to do this to quickly incorporate the new hero into the world of Marvel Comics. Personally, I think they’d have been better off creating a new cool villain, especially since I always thought the Owl was lame. 

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #2 cover-dated January 1973, on newsstands October 24th, 1972, with cover art by John Romita)

Marie Severin more prominently does the art on this issue with Jim Mooney inking. And it’s pretty darn good. I actually think this issue probably looks most like what you'd expect of a well done Marvel Comic. 

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #2 cover-dated January 1973, on newsstands October 24th, 1972, with art by Marie Severin and inks by Jim Mooney)

In #3 we again get a lame rehashed villain (Commander Kraken from Sub-Mariner... right? I had to go check.) and a new artist in Paty Greer (layouts) with Bill Everett finishes. Rich Buckler does the cover, though apparently, Romita had to do alterations with Frank Giacoia inking.

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #3 cover-dated April 1973, on newsstands January 2nd, 1973, with cover art by Rich Buckler, alterations by John Romita and inks by Frank Giacoia)

Paty Greer's art in this is a little different, but... in a good way. And Bill Everett's inks, give it a nice touch. Geez, I'd have taken this over a Sal Buscema with Vince Coletta inking any day. 

It feels very... 'independent comic' in its layout and style and... that probably was NOT what Marvel was looking for. I know a lot is made about their 'House Style' and their need to make everything fit within the structure of what they were doing, but... personally, I like it better when the artists get overly creative and interesting. It's one of the reasons I always liked this series...

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #3 cover-dated April 1973, on newsstands January 2nd, 1973, with art by Paty Greer, and inks by Bill Everett)

The final issue has a Romita cover, making it look perhaps cooler than what follows (though he probably agonized about having to draw those bulls) - yet another lame rehashed villain (Man Bull from Daredevil) and another artist change. 

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #4 cover-dated June 1973, on newsstands March 6th, 1973, with cover art by John Romita)

The hard-luck lady thing continues as the Cat laments her powers and responsibility. Ya know... if they REALLY wanted her to have a reason to feel guilty about her powers, they should've let Dr. Tumolo die, and... ah, whatever.

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #4 cover-dated June 1973, on newsstands March 6th, 1973, with art by Jim Starlin and Alan Weiss with inks by Frank McLaughlin)

If you’d told me going in that Jim Starlin and Allen Weiss we’re going to do the art with Frank McLaughlin on inks I’d have been pretty excited to see the results. Unfortunately it none of their best work. It’s not BAD, it just... nowhere in the realm of Captain Marvel #26 and #27, which it came out in between. 

Most likely Starlin did some breakdowns, Weiss did some finishes and maybe both did some touch-ups and then McLaughlin came in to ink it in a rush (he's much better than this).

(BEWARE! The CLAWS of the CAT #4 cover-dated June 1973, on newsstands March 6th, 1973, with art by Jim Starlin and Alan Weiss with inks by Frank McLaughlin)

Overall though, as I said, I enjoyed this series and still read it from time to time. In fact, I'm going to finish this 'Tigra' trade paperback where these stories came from and review the rest of it very soon!