(Stock Image)
SOLD ON: Saturday, 12/05/2009 2:38 PM
This auction has ended.
PUBLISHER: Marvel
COMMENTS: classic Everett anti-smoking cover (10/52)
Read Description ▼
classic Everett anti-smoking cover (10/52)Maybe Atlas didn't have quite the iconic covers or classic illustrative style that EC boasted, but when they were on target, boy howdy did Atlas's horror covers deliver. Witness, true beliver, as the beloved Bill Everett, one of comicdom's undisputed giants, puts his talents to the then-trendy horror genre, with a delightfully gruesome cover that has become a classic in its own right. The house layout style used for Atlas's anthology books of the time did their cover artists no favors, giving them an unusually small amount of front-of-book real estate to work with, but Everett would not only rise to the challenge, but invariably provide miniature masterclasses in use of space and composition. Note especially the clever way in which he draws the eye, via the smoke trails of the cigarette, to the astonished onlookers otherwise hidden in the back of this foreshortened image, just one way in which he packs as much awesomeness as possible into a limited space. A truly terrific cover, one revered by hardcore pre-code horror fanatics.
Artists Information
Bill Everett was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner, as well as co-creating Daredevil with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. Everett fell into comics almost by accident in the industry's earliest days, creating the character Amazing-Man for Centaur Publications in 1939. That same year saw Everett contributing the first Sub-Mariner story for Marvel Mystery Comics #1, the very first book from Timely Comics (which would eventually become Marvel Comics). Sub-Mariner would prove to be one of Timely's earliest hits, and Everett would continue drawing Namor's adventures until 1949. In the '50s, Everett would continue working for what was now Atlas Comics on numerous titles, occasionally reviving Sub-Mariner. With the explosion of the Marvel Age in the '60s, Everett joined Stan Lee in co-creating and drawing the first issue of Daredevil. He also found regular work contributing to Tales to Astonish and Strange Tales. The Sub-Mariner would return again in Tales to Astonish #85, continuing there (and then in his own title) with sporadic contributions from Everett. Bill Everett died suddenly at the age of 55 in 1973.
Eugene Jules Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series. He co-created the Falcon, the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics, Carol Danvers, who would become Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel, and the supernatural vampire hunter Blade.