1.
Johnny Craig
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John Thomas Alexis Craig, better known as Johnny Craig, was an American comic book artist notable for his work with the EC Comics line of the 1950s. He sometimes used the pseudonyms Jay Taycee and F. C, born in Pleasantville, New York, Craig studied at the Art Students League of New York. While attending classes, he working in 1940 as an assistant of Harry Lampert. Between 1943 and 1945, Craig served in the Merchant Marines, returning to comics after his discharge, he began drawing for EC Comics, beginning with the penciling and inking the cover of Moon Girl and the Prince #1. When he teamed with Al Feldstein, they used the pseudonym F. C, wally Wood once said Craig drew the cleanest horror stories you ever saw. His first EC horror work came with the art for The Crypt of Terror #17. In being a writer as well as an artist, Craig differed from the majority of EC artists and he was responsible for the stories hosted by the Vault-Keeper, and he also drew that horror host in the framing sequences of stories by other EC illustrators. He eventually concentrated on The Vault of Horror and Crime SuspenStories, Craig became the editor of The Vault of Horror early in 1954, giving up his work for Crime SuspenStories at that time. Later that year, he created the Vault Keepers attractive assistant, after the EC horror books came to an end, Craig edited ECs Extra. in 1955, writing and drawing two stories in each bimonthly issue. Craigs story. And All Through the House in Vault of Horror #35 was adapted for the Joan Collins segment of the 1972 omnibus film Tales from the Crypt, Craigs many covers included that of the infamous Crime SuspenStories #22, shown during the 1950s Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency. Senator Estes Kefauver asked EC publisher Bill Gaines whether he thought the cover, Gaines responded, Yes, sir, I do, for the cover of a horror comic—a remark that became an oft-quoted example of comic books alleged depravity. Ironically, Craig was one of the more wholesome EC artists, one critic wrote of his work, Craig was a meticulous craftsman and not a fast worker, but his stories are regarded as some of the best ever in comics. His art was relatively low-key and restrained, effectively staged and featured impeccable draftsmanship, the scripts he wrote tended to be literate and cerebral, and generally relied on solid construction and implacable internal logic, rather than on contrived snap endings. His horror work made use of psychology and mood than of the supernatural. He returned to comics in the 1960s with art for ACGs Unknown Worlds, in 1967, he applied at DC. Recalling the excellence of his EC stories, editor George Kashdan gave him an issue of The Brave, Craig handed the job in weeks late, whereupon his art was deemed too subdued, even for the relatively staid DC super-hero comics of the time. Before publication, the pages were heavily retouched and revised as to expunge any trace of Johnny Craigs style. Evanier wrote that Goodwin, by now writing for Marvel, said that, Every so often, wed try having him pencil an Iron Man or something and he couldnt draw superheroes the way they wanted, and he couldnt hit the deadlines of a monthly book
2.
EC Comics
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In 1954–55, censorship pressures prompted it to concentrate on the humor magazine Mad, leading to the companys greatest and most enduring success. Initially, EC was privately owned by Maxwell Gaines and specialized in educational, later, during its period of notoriety, it was owned by his son, William Gaines. The firm, first known as Educational Comics, was founded by Max Gaines, when Max Gaines died in 1947 in a boating accident, his son William inherited the comics company. After four years in the Army Air Corps, Gaines had returned home to school at New York University. He never taught but instead took over the family business, in 1949 and 1950, Bill Gaines began a line of new titles featuring horror, suspense, science fiction, military fiction and crime fiction. With input from Gaines, the stories were written by Kurtzman, Feldstein, other writers including Carl Wessler, Jack Oleck and Otto Binder were later brought on board. EC had success with its approach and pioneered in forming relationships with its readers through its letters to the editor and its fan organization. EC published distinct lines of titles under its Entertaining Comics umbrella, most notorious were its horror books, Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear. These titles reveled in a gruesome joie de vivre, with grimly ironic fates meted out to many of the stories protagonists, the companys war comics Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales often featured weary-eyed, unheroic stories out of step with the jingoistic times. Shock SuspenStories tackled weighty political and social issues such as racism, sex, drug use, EC always claimed to be proudest of our science fiction titles, with Weird Science and Weird Fantasy publishing stories unlike the space opera found in such titles as Fiction Houses Planet Comics. Crime SuspenStories had many parallels with film noir, superior illustrations of stories with surprise endings became ECs trademark. Gaines would generally stay up late and read large amounts of material while seeking springboards for story concepts, the next day he would present each premise until Feldstein found one that he thought he could develop into a story. At ECs peak, Feldstein edited seven titles while Kurtzman handled three, Artists were assigned stories specific to their styles. Davis and Ingels often drew gruesome, supernatural-themed stories, while Kamen, with hundreds of stories written, common themes surfaced. Some of ECs more well-known themes include, An ordinary situation given an ironic and gruesome twist, in Collection Completed a man takes up taxidermy in order to annoy his wife. When he kills and stuffs her beloved cat, the snaps and kills him. In Revulsion, a pilot is bothered by insects due to a past experience when he found one in his food. At the conclusion of the story, a giant alien insect screams in horror at finding the pilot in his salad
3.
William Gaines
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William Maxwell Bill Gaines, was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in ECs direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and he published the popular satirical magazine Mad for over 40 years. He was posthumously inducted into the book industrys Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. In 2012, he was inducted into the Ghastly Awards Hall of Fame, Gaines was the son of Max Gaines, who as publisher of the All-American Comics division of DC Comics was also an influential figure in the history of comics. The elder Gaines tested the idea of packaging and selling comics on newsstands in 1933, in 1941, Max Gaines accepted William Moulton Marstons proposal for the first successful female superhero, Wonder Woman. As World War II began, Bill Gaines was rejected by the United States Army, United States Coast Guard and United States Navy, so he went to his draft board and he trained as an Army Air Corps photographer at Lowry Field in Denver. However, when he was assigned to an Oklahoma City field which did not have a photographic facility, as he explained in 1976 to Bill Craig of Stars and Stripes, Being an eater, this assignment was a real pleasure for me. There were four of us, and we found all the choice bits the cooks had hidden away. Wed be frying up filet mignon and ham steaks every night, I think it was eight hours on and 40 off. Gaines was stationed at DeRidder Army Airfield in Louisiana, at Marshall Field in Kansas, leaving the service in 1946, he returned home to complete his chemistry studies at Brooklyn Polytech, but soon transferred to New York University, intent on obtaining a teaching certificate. In 1947, he was in his year at NYU when his father was killed in a motorboat accident on Lake Placid. Instead of becoming a teacher, Bill Gaines took over the family business. The EC initials stood for both Educational Comics and Entertaining Comics, and the company was at that point best known for its adaptations of Bible stories, Bill Gaines found his niche in publishing horror, science fiction, satire and war comics. His comic books, including Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, Shock SuspenStories, Weird Science and Two-Fisted Tales, for a complete roster of titles, see the List of Entertaining Comics publications. Begun in 1952, Mad was the companys biggest and longest-lasting success and its popularity inspired dozens of similar publications, including ECs own Panic. EC horror comics were not generic compilations of ghoulish clichés, but subtle, satiric approaches to horror with genuine dilemmas, likewise, ECs science fiction and fantasy titles dealt with adult issues like the meaning of progress. In part because of the higher-quality material, EC soon assembled a stable of artists unparalleled in the industry then, the company treated its illustrators as selling points, profiling them in full-page biographies and permitting them to sign their work, a rarity in 1950s comic books. EC was notable for its lack of a style, as the artists were encouraged to pursue distinctive techniques
4.
Al Feldstein
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Albert Bernard Al Feldstein was an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. After retiring from Mad, Feldstein concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife, Al Feldstein was born October 24,1925, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Max, who made dental molds, and Beatrice Feldstein. After winning an award in the 1939 New York Worlds Fair poster contest, he decided on a career in the art field and studied at the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan. While in high school, he was hired by Jerry Iger to work in the S. M. Iger Studio and he recalled. running errands, erasing pages and doing general gofer work after school for three dollars a week. His earliest background art was for Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, after graduating from high school he attended the Art Students League. Feldstein freelanced art for books, including Fox Comics. Feldstein recalled that Bob Farrell, whom he considered a driving a convertible Cadillac. Feldstein rewrote Farrells scripts for Fox and produced the art for the stories and he described Fox as the typical exploiting comic book publisher of his day, grinding out shameless imitations of successful titles and trends and mistreating his writers and artists. Feldstein wrote, drew and packaged the complete Junior and Sunny books for Fox, Feldsteins initial EC assignment was drawing a teenage book, the beginning of a long working relationship with Gaines. Arriving at EC in 1948, Feldstein began as an artist, from late 1950 through 1953, he edited and wrote stories for seven EC titles. As ECs editor, Feldstein created a line, balancing his genre tales with potent graphic stories probing the underbelly of American life. While developing a stable of contributing writers that included Robert Bernstein, Otto Binder, Daniel Keyes, Jack Oleck and Carl Wessler, EC employed the comics industrys finest artists and published promotional copy to make readers aware of their staff. Feldstein encouraged the EC illustrators to maintain their art styles. Distinctive front cover designs framing those recognizable art styles made Feldsteins titles easy to spot on crowded newsstands, after the New Trend titles folded in 1955, Feldstein edited ECs short-lived New Direction line, followed by ECs Picto-Fiction magazines. After industry and government pressures forced Gaines to shut down most of his EC titles, but when Harvey Kurtzman left Mad in 1956, Gaines turned to his former editor. Feldstein spent the next 29 years at the helm of what one of the nations leading. It is unclear what the circulation of the magazine was when Feldstein took over, by the 1960s, it had increased to over a million, and by the 1970s, it had doubled to two million. Circulation multiplied more than eight times during Feldsteins tenure, peaking at 2,850,000 in 1974, Feldstein has been credited with giving the magazine the personality of a smart-alecky, sniggering and indisputably clever spitball-shooter
5.
Crime comics
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Crime comics is a genre of American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence. Crime comics began in 1942 with the publication of Crime Does Not Pay published by Lev Gleason Publications and edited by Charles Biro. This code placed limits on the degree and kind of activity that could be depicted in American comic books, effectively sounding the death knell for crime comics. The comic strip Dick Tracy was perhaps the first to focus on the character, chester Goulds strip, begun in 1931, made effective use of grotesque villains, actual police methods, and shocking depictions of violence. As edited and mostly written by Charles Biro, Crime Does Not Pay was a 64-page anthology comic published by Lev Gleason Publications beginning in 1942. Each issue of the series featured stories about the lives of actual criminals taken from newspaper accounts, history books. Beginning in 1947, publishers began issuing new titles in the comics genre, sometimes changing the direction of existing series. Many of these titles were direct imitations of the format and content of Crime Does Not Pay, in May,1947, Arthur Bernhards Magazine Village company published True Crime Comics, designed and edited by Jack Cole. The first issue featured Coles Murder, Morphine, and Me, later in 1947, the team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby began packaging a pair of crime comics for the Prize Comics line. Headline Comics was transformed from adventure to a crime theme, at the same time, Simon and Kirby revitalized Real Clue Comics for Hillman Comics, giving the title a true-crime veneer and transforming it from a serial character-driven mystery title. EC Comics began publishing Crime SuspenStories in 1950 and Shock SuspenStories in 1952, both titles featured, in the manner of the EC horror comics, fictional noir-style stories of murder and revenge with stunning art and tightly plotted twist-endings. In the late 1940s, the book industry became the target of mounting public criticism for their content. In some communities, children piled their comic books in schoolyards and set ablaze after being egged-on by moralizing parents, teachers. The same year, after two articles by Dr. Fredric Wertham put comic books through the wringer, a trade group. Crime comics can be ordered forfeited by the provincial courts, in 1954, Wertham once again brought his wrath to bear upon comic books. In Seduction of the Innocent, he warned that crime comics were a cause of juvenile delinquency, citing overt or covert depictions of violence, sex, drug use. Wertham asserted, largely based on undocumented anecdotes, that reading this material encouraged similar behavior in children, Many of his other conjectures, particularly about hidden sexual themes, were met with derision within the comics industry
6.
Tales from the Crypt (TV series)
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The title is based on the 1950s EC Comics series of the same name and most of the content originated in that comic or the other EC Comics of the time. The show was produced by HBO, because it was aired on HBO, a premium cable television channel, it was one of the few anthology series to be allowed to have full freedom from censorship by network standards and practices. As a result, HBO allowed the series to contain content that had not appeared in most television series up to time, such as graphic violence, profanity. The show is edited for such content when broadcast in syndication or on basic cable. While the series production in the United States, in the final season filming moved to Britain. In 2017, M. Night Shyamalan will helm a reboot series, each episode begins with a tracking shot leading to the front door of the Crypt Keepers decrepit mansion. Once inside, the camera pans down hallways and stairways, the shows host, the Crypt Keeper, then pops out from his coffin, cackling wildly, finally, green slime pours down over the screen as the main title appears. The Crypt Keeper is a corpse, as opposed to the original comics in which he was a living human being. The wisecracking Crypt Keeper, who was voiced by John Kassir and performed by puppeteer Van Snowden, each episode was self contained, and was bookended by an outro sequence again involving the Crypt Keeper. Comic book cover art was created by Mike Vosburg and Shawn McManus, the episode You, Murderer is particularly noteworthy since it was one of the first shows ever filmed that used computer effects to digitally insert actors into an episode. The episode was directed by series producer Robert Zemeckis, who had recently directed Forrest Gump which utilized these effects, alfred Hitchcock appeared in a cameo at the beginning of the episode, and Humphrey Bogart played the starring role for this story. Because both men had been dead for decades, their appearances made the very well known amongst fans. This episode was notable for Isabella Rossellinis guest appearance in which she parodies her lookalike mother, Ingrid Bergman. Very few of the episodes, especially in the seasons, were based on actual stories from Tales from the Crypt. Many were instead from other EC Comics series, for instance, season one was predominantly from The Haunt of Fear, while season two was mostly from Shock SuspenStories. Tales from The Vault of Horror appeared sporadically throughout the series run, the final episode broadcast, The Third Pig, was the only original story not based on the comics, and the only one that was fully animated. Individual episodes from the series often involved big-name stars, either as writers, directors, in this way, many A-list Hollywood stars were appearing on both the big screen and the small screen at the same time. A list of actors/guest stars includes the likes of Adam Ant, Lee Arenberg, Patricia Arquette, Bess Armstrong, John Astin, Dan Aykroyd, Hank Azaria, Jonathan Banks, Ed Begley, Jr
7.
The Haunt of Fear
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The Haunt of Fear was an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in 1950. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, the Haunt of Fear was sold at newsstands beginning with its May/June 1950 issue. It ceased publication with its November/December 1954 issue, compiling a total of 28 issues, American horror comics emerged as a distinct comic book genre after World War II. At this time, US young adult males lost interest in caped crime fighters, also, returning GIs demanded titillating sex and violence in their reading. One-shot Eerie is generally considered the first true American horror comic and its cover depicted a dagger-wielding, red eyed ghoul who threatened a rope-bound, scantily clad, voluptuous young woman, beneath a full moon. In 1948, Adventures Into the Unknown became the first regularly published horror title and it enjoyed a nearly two decade life-span. Fiction House had a horror series with Werewolf Hunter starting in 1943 that appeared in its comic Rangers Comics. In 1950, publisher Gaines and his editor, Al Feldstein, an EC Western comic book series called Gunfighter was similarly rechristened The Haunt of Fear with issue #15. Well, ya cant fight City Hall, for this reason, even within the same original 1950s series, there are actually two separate issues each of The Haunt of Fear #15,16,17. Artist Graham Ingels took over the art duties of the Haunt of Fear starting with issue #4 and he became the Old Witchs primary artist for the remainder of the comics run, though his art had been appearing since the second issue. Ingels would take over the duty with issue #11, in February 1952. Ingels artwork on the eight lead stories, and his splash pages, particularly on issues #14 and 17. These have rarely if ever been equaled since, poetic Justice, in the twelfth issue, was adapted for the 1972 Tales From the Crypt film from Amicus Studios, in England. The movie starred Peter Cushing as the old junk collector. Ingels drew Wish You Were Here from Haunt #22 and it was also adapted for film. Hows Bayou. in issue #17 is considered by many E. C. s best drawn horror story ever, perhaps it is the best by anyone, in any era. The homicidal maniacs creepy visage was taken from an old movie still of the silent film, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the story artwork won an award as best E. C. horror art at the 1972 E. C. Fan-Addict Convention. Gaines and Feldstein were responsible for writing all of the stories until the end of 1953, an unauthorized adaptation of Ray Bradbury in another one of ECs comics
8.
George Evans (cartoonist)
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George R. Evans was an American cartoonist and illustrator who worked in both comic books and comic strips. His lifelong fascination with airplanes and the pioneers of aviation was a constant theme in his art. Born in Harwood, Pennsylvania, Evans studied art from a correspondence course and he was still in his teens when he made his first sales, both illustrations and writing, to pulp magazines. Early in World War II, Evans was a mechanic at Shaw Field in South Carolina. He studied at the Scranton Art School and then entered the Army, in the post-World War II years, Evans began working for comic books, including an in-house staff position at Fiction House until 1949. Originally hired to rule panel borders, erase pencils and fill in blacks for other illustrators, he sat next the teenaged artist Frank Frazetta. Evans eventually got up the nerve to show his portfolio to the editor where the surprised staffer exclaimed, What the hell are you doing this job for, after that, Evans was given feature stories to draw in 1947. Among the features he illustrated were The Lost World in Planet Comics and his favorite work from this period was for Fiction Houses Wings Comics and he did a few illustrations for the companys pulp line as well. He contributed to the westerns and romance titles as well. Until the end of his life, Evans believed his work for Fawcett was better than any other in his career and he liked the people there and assembled a team of inkers and assistants after becoming one of Fawcetts top illustrators in 1950. His work for EC Comics in the early 1950s included powerful covers and crime stories for Crime SuspenStories and memorable World War I aviation covers and stories for Aces High. He was a contributor to The Haunt of Fear, Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales. Evans shocking cover for Crime Suspenstories #23 was held up at the Senate Hearings On Juvenile Delinquency in 1954, among many other comic book covers from a variety of publishers. He stayed with EC through their new direction and Picto-Fiction experiments, contributing to M. D. Impact, Piracy, Terror Illustrated, Crime Illustrated and Shock Illustrated, after EC, he contributed to Gilbertons Classics Illustrated, Dell and Gold Key. For Boys Life Evans drew Space Conquerors. for the August 1953-March 1958 issues, during the 1960s, he was an assistant and ghost artist for George Wunder on the comic strip Terry and the Pirates. He did occasional work in books during this period, most notably for Warrens Blazing Combat black and white magazine and Eerie, Gold Keys The Twilight Zone. During the 1970s, he contributed comics to the National Lampoon and he drew DC Comics war comics and mystery tales, and for Marvel Comics he did mystery-horror stories plus work on two issues of Super-Villain Team-Up featuring Doctor Doom and Sub-Mariner. Al Williamson passed Secret Agent Corrigan on to Evans in 1980, for several years before that, the strip, as with all story strips, was becoming less popular
9.
Jack Kamen
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Jack Kamen was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York on May 29,1920. Kamens first professional job was as an assistant to a sculptor working for the Texas Centennial and he studied sculpture with Agop Agopoff and was a student of Harvey Dunn, George Brandt Bridgman and William C. When Kamen attended classes at the Art Students League and the Grand Central Art School, he paid for his studies by painting theatrical scenery, decorating fashion mannequins and creating sculptures. Shortly after he began his career with Western and detective pulp magazines. After World War II, he started drawing comic book stories for Fiction House, artist Al Feldstein also did work for the Eisner & Iger studio, where Kamen and Feldstein became friends. Later, Feldstein brought Kamen into EC Comics, as Kamen recalled in an interview with Ken Smith, He called me up, Bill said, This boy wonder of mine is recommending you for this work. I was delighted, because Bill Gaines was always Bill Gaines, and then, as the popularity increased, Bill one day said, “Look, I don’t know what you’re getting, but I’ll meet anybody’s price and I’ll keep you busy all of the time. How would you like to be exclusive. ”After initially getting EC assignments to illustrate romance comics, he became one of the most prolific EC artists, drawing crime, horror, humor, suspense. He was known for his drawings of attractive women, describing Kamens understated style, EC editor Al Feldstein said, We gave Kamen those stories where the All-American girl and guy are married and then chop each other to pieces. In Tales from the Crypt #31, Kamen drew a semi-autobiographical self-satire, Kamens Kalamity, the story depicted the transition from romance to horror by Kamen, who called it my favorite story. However, ECs woes followed the new line of Picto-Fiction titles, the magazines were underdistributed and soon canceled. For artist Tom Palmer, Kamen described one of his painting techniques. I would use a smooth board and apply my basic color in a very watery wash of acrylic. For instance, I would mix a puddle of acrylic paint flesh color, as soon as it dried, I would add all the details in colored pencil. In areas that needed correction I would paint opaque white acrylic and then go back, the electric eraser blended all the pencil into a smooth look. He also drew all the comic book artwork for Stephen King and George A. Romeros 1982 horror anthology film Creepshow, King, although the bulk of the artwork for the graphic novel adaptation of the film was done by acclaimed macabre artist Berni Wrightson, Kamen illustrated the cover. Jack Kamen married his wife, Evelyn in 1946, bart died on September 27,2012. Barts daughter Libby is Jack and Evelyns only grandchild and she is a graduate of Deans FIRST Robotics program and has her bachelors degree in Communications and Digital Media from Clarkson University
10.
Wally Wood
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Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work on EC Comicss Mad and Marvels Daredevil. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952, although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he claimed to dislike. Within the comics community, he was known as Woody. EC publisher William Gaines once stated, Wally may have been our most troubled artist, im not suggesting any connection, but he may have been our most brilliant. He was the inductee into the comic book industrys Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1989. Wally Wood was born in Menahga, Minnesota, and he began reading and drawing comics at an early age, recalling his childhood, Wood said that his dream at age six, about finding a magic pencil that could draw anything, foretold his future as an artist. Wood graduated from school in 1944, signed on with the United States Merchant Marine at the close of World War II. He went from training at Fort Benning, Georgia, to occupied Japan, in 1947, at age 20, Wood enrolled in the Minneapolis School of Art but only lasted one term. Arriving in New York City with his brother Glenn and mother Alma, after his discharge in July 1948. During his time off he carried his thick portfolio of all over midtown Manhattan. He briefly attended the Hogarth School of Art but dropped out one semester. By October, after being rejected by every company he visited, at this studio Wood learned that Will Eisner was looking for a Spirit background artist. He immediately visited Eisner and was hired on the spot, over the next year, Wood also became an assistant to George Wunder, who had taken over the Milton Caniff strip Terry and the Pirates. Wood cited his first job on my own as Chief Ob-stacle and he entered the comic book field by lettering, as he recalled in 1981, The first professional job was lettering for Fox romance comics in 1948. I also started doing backgrounds, then inking, most of it was the romance stuff. For complete pages, it was $5 a page, twice a week, I would ink ten pages in one day. Woods next known comic-book art did not appear until Foxs My Confession No,7, at which time he began working almost continuously on the companys similar My Experience, My Secret Life, My Love Story and My True Love, Thrilling Confession Stories. His first signed work is believed to be in My Confession #8 and he penciled and inked two stories in that issue, I Was Unwanted and My Tarnished Reputation
11.
Graham Ingels
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Graham J. Ingels flair for horror led EC to promote him as Ghastly Graham Ingels, and he began signing his work Ghastly in 1952. Born in Cincinnati, Ingels began working at age 14 after the death of his father, commercial artist Don Ingels and he studied at New Yorks Hawthorne School of Art. Graham and Gertrude Ingels married when he was starting as a freelancer at age 20 and he entered the U. S. Navy in 1943, and he began working that same year for Fiction House Publications, both in their pulp magazines and their comic book division. Black and white illustrations signed G. Ingels appeared in Planet Stories, Jungle Stories, North-West Romances and he contributed one painted cover to a 1944 issue of Planet Stories as well. For Planet Comics, he illustrated stories in the Hunt Bowman series and he also painted a mural at the United Nations building. The Ingels had two children, Deanna and Robby, who was named after a character created by child impersonator Lenore Ledoux for the Baby Snooks radio program, artist Howard Nostrand, a friend of Ingels, recalled, Robby was short for Robespierre. The reason why they called him that was left over from the old Fanny Brice show, Baby Snooks had a little kid brother named Robespierre. They called him that when he was a kid. A regular in Planet Comics and Rangers Comics in the late 1940s, Ingels worked for Magazine Enterprises and other publishers of comic books and pulps. Ingels drew crime comics for Magazine Enterprises and Westerns for a variety of companies, including Magazine Enterprises, Youthful Magazines, Hillman Periodicals, D. S. also published crime stories drawn by Ingels in Underworld, Gangsters Cant Win and Exposed. There were also short stories and one painted cover by Ingels in Dell Comics Heroic Comics around 1947, the companys Western and romance comics were later canceled or converted to horror and science-fiction titles. When EC introduced Tales From the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear, a trademark image was a character with a thread of saliva visible in a horrified open mouth. As the lead artist for The Haunt of Fear, he brought to life the Old Witch, horror host of The Witchs Cauldron lead story, and he also did the cover for each issue from issue 11 through 28. A prolific artist, Ingels also drew the Old Witchs appearances in Tales From the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, plus stories for Shock SuspenStories, the Old Witchs origin story was told in A Little Stranger. Because of his many Witchs Cauldron stories, he was identified with the character of the Old Witch. Ingels artwork on the lead stories, and his splash pages, particularly on issues #14 and 17. When EC cancelled its horror and crime comics, Ingels drew for ECs New Direction titles, Piracy and he later contributed to ECs short lived Picto-Fiction line. His forte was strictly doing horror comics, and there werent any more horror comics being done, Ingels took a teaching position with the Famous Artists correspondence school in Westport, Connecticut
12.
Harvey Kurtzman
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Harvey Kurtzman was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book Mad from 1952 until 1956 and his work is noted for its satire and parody of popular culture, social critique, and attention to detail. Kurtzmans working method has been likened to that of an auteur, Kurtzman began to work on the New Trend line of comic books at EC Comics in 1950. The comic book switched to a format in 1955. Following his departure, he did a variety of cartooning work, including editing the short-lived Trump, in 1959, he produced the first book-length work of original comics, the adult-oriented, satirical Jungle Book. He brought Help. to an end after the success of the risqué Playboy feature Little Annie Fanny began to take up his time. While Annie Fanny provided much of his income for the rest of his career, he continued to produce a body of work. In 1967 and directing, writing and designing several shorts for Sesame Street in 1969, from 1973, Kurtzman taught cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. His work gained greater recognition toward the end of his life, the Harvey Award was named in Kurtzmans honor in 1988. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1989, Harvey Kurtzman spoke little of his parents in interviews, and not much is known of their pre-American lives. David Kurtzman and Edith née Sherman grew up in Ukraine in Odessa and they belonged to the citys large Jewish community, one that suffered generations of antisemitic oppression, and the city had fallen into economic hardship following the Russian Revolution. Shortly after World War I David emigrated to New York and Edith soon followed in what she called a desperate journey escaping the new Soviet Union, there the non-observant pair married in a civil ceremony. The first of their two sons, Zachary, was born April 8,1923, Harvey Kurtzman was born on October 3,1924, in a tenement building on 428 East Ninety-Eighth Street in Brooklyn in New York City. David joined the Christian Science church, and when he suffered an ulcer he turned to prayer to cure it, he died from it on November 29,1928. The family was in desperate financial straits that their mother placed the Kurtzman brothers in an orphanage for three months until she secured work as a milliner. Several months later, Edith remarried to Russian-Jewish immigrant Abraham Perkes, the Kurtzman boys kept their surname, while their mother took that of Perkes. The couple had a son Daniel on February 17,1931, in 1934 the family moved to the more upscale Bronx, where the family lived at 2166 Clinton Avenue. Perkes was not wealthy, but managed to provide for his family during the Great Depression of the 1930s and he was a trade unionist, and the couple read the communist newspaper Daily Worker
13.
George Roussos
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Over five decades, he created artwork for numerous publishers, including EC Comics, and he was a staff colorist for Marvel Comics. George Roussos was born in Washington, D. C. the son of Greek-Americans William, Roussos was influenced by the art of cartoonist Frank Miller in the aviation comic strip Barney Baxter in the Air. Other influences included Chester Gould, Stan Kaye, Robert Fawcett, I had no schooling except the things I learned by myself, Roussos said. He entered comics in 1939 as letterer of the Spanish-language version of the newspaper panel Ripleys Believe It or Not, the following year, Bob Kane and Bill Finger hired him to assist inker Jerry Robinson on Batman stories. Roussos duties included drawing backgrounds, inking, and lettering, starting as early as Batman #2, at the same time, he did similar duties on Target and the Targeteers. He and Robinson would eventually leave the Kane studio to work directly for National Comics on Batman, Roussos worked on features starring the Vigilante, Johnny Quick, Superman, and Starman. He also did 16 internationally distributed educational pamphlets for General Electric, the survey The 20 Greatest Inkers of American Comic Books placed Roussos at #15, saying he was so adept with a brush in his hand that his co-workers appointed the nickname Inky to him. His style was thick, heavy with blacks, and sported nice contrasts which complimented one of his prime collaborators in the 50s. Comic-book clients during the 1950s included that decades Marvel precursor, Atlas Comics, along with Crestwood, EC Comics, for EC he did stories in Crime SuspenStories, Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science and Weird Fantasy. These included #21-27, which featured the first Hulk vs. Thing battle, as well, Roussos had inked the Kirby covers of issues #11,13, and 18-20. Roussos also inked the return of Captain America in The Avengers #4 — the cover of which has one of comics most famous — as well as Kirbys Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #3-7, in addition, though Marvel Comics did not credit colorists at this time, Roussos has since claimed that he has always followed the practice of coloring any comic that he inked. After doing some work for Warren Publishings black-and-white horror-comics magazines in 1970 and 1971, Roussos in 1972 succeeded Marie Severin as Marvels full-time, in the early 1980s, Roussos was Marvels cover colorist. Roussos was a Renaissance man whose interests included architecture, astronomy, automobiles, gardening, natural medicine. He took photographs of various Long Island estates, and his photographs at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park were collected in his book, Roussos died of a heart attack. He was married twice, to Viola Fink, followed by Florence Lacey, Roussos had three sons and a daughter. The Bayard Cutting Arboretum History, A History and Description of William Bayard Cutting and His Country House, Westbrook, Great River, oakdale, New York, The Board of Trustees and the Long Island State Park and Recreation Commission,1984. The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
14.
Sid Check
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Sid Check, is an American comic book artist best known for his stories in EC Comics. Check was often compared to Wally Wood because of a stylistic resemblance and his work appeared in ECs New Trend titles, Crime SuspenStories, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror and Weird Science. He drew for Marvel, including Weird Wonder Tales, Battle Action, for Magazine Enterprises he contributed to White Indian. He also drew for Classics Illustrated and for Harvey Comics Tomb of Terror, when Wood and Orlando began their early art collaborations, Sid Check as well as Harrison were also fellow members of the same art studio. It isnt surprising that all four of them would soon be working for the publisher, EC Comics. To the untrained eye, Checks work can often be mistaken for Woods, Checks art is generally engaging and attractive, if not entirely as well constructed as Woods art was. Less prolific than Wood certainly, Checks work in books was short-lived, from December 1951 through 1958 mostly. He remains a mystery to even the most hardcore comic fans to this very day. He illustrated for Amazing Stories during the mid-1970s and his name is sometimes mistakenly given as Sydney though he signed Sidney on some art. Backing into Forward, A Memoir, Doubleday,2010, whos Who of American Comic Books
15.
Al Williamson
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Alfonso Al Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy. Born in New York City, he spent much of his childhood in Bogotá. In his youth, Williamson developed an interest in comic strips, before long, he was working professionally in the comics industry. His most notable works include his science-fiction/heroic fantasy art for EC Comics in the 1950s, on titles including Weird Science, Williamson spent most of the 1970s working on his own credited strip, another Raymond creation, Secret Agent X-9. The following decade, he known for his work adapting Star Wars films to comic books. From the mid-1980s to 2003, he was active as an inker, mainly on Marvel Comics superhero titles starring such characters as Daredevil, Spider-Man. Williamson is known for his collaborations with a group of artists including Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel, Angelo Torres, and George Woodbridge, which was affectionately known as the Fleagle Gang. Williamson has been cited as an influence on a number of younger artists. He has won industry awards, and six career-retrospective books about him have been published since 1998. Living in Pennsylvania with his wife Corina, Williamson retired in his seventies, Williamson was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2000. Al Williamson was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, the family relocated to Bogotá, Colombia, when Al was two years old. My father was Colombian and my mother was American, Williamson said in 1997 and they met in the States, got married and went down there. I grew up there so I learned both English and Spanish at the same time. It was comic books that taught me to both languages. At age nine, Williamson took an interest in comic strips via the Mexican magazine Paquin, later, Williamson was attracted to Alex Raymonds Flash Gordon strip after his mother took him to see the Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe movie serial. While living in Bogotá he met future cartoonist Adolfo Buylla, who befriended him, at age 12, in 1943, Williamson moved with his mother to San Francisco, California, they later moved to New York. There he met future cartoonists Wally Wood and Roy Krenkel, according to Williamson, Roy broadened my collecting horizons, he became my guide to all the great illustrators — the artists who directly influenced adventure cartoonists like Raymond and Foster. He showed me J. C. Coll, Franklin Booth, Joseph Franke, Dan Smith, Norman Lindsay, Fortunino Matania, and the great Blue Book illustrators like Herbert Morton Stoops and Frank Hoban
16.
Fred Peters (artist)
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Fred Peters was an American artist who contributed to several EC Comics. Work by Peters was published in ECs Crime Patrol, Crime SuspenStories, Gunfighter, Saddle Justice, Tales from the Crypt, for Crime SuspenStories, he did several EC Quickies. Peters illustrated the story Cutting Cards in Tales From the Crypt #32, TV. com noted, In the comic story the gamblers names are Lou Crebis and Gus Forney. In the episode, their names are Reno Crevice and Sam Forney, walter Hill actually used some of the original panels from the comic story to help storyboard this episode
17.
Joe Orlando
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Joseph Joe Orlando was an Italian American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the publisher of Mad and the vice president of DC Comics. Orlando was born in Bari, Italy, emigrating to the United States in 1929 and he began drawing at an early age, going to art classes at a neighborhood boys club when he was seven years old. He continued there until he was 14, winning prizes annually in their competitions, in 1941, he began attending the School of Industrial Art, where he studied illustration. Infantino and Orlando remained close friends for decades, while Orlando was still a student, he drew his first published illustrations, scenes of Mark Twains The Prince and the Pauper for a high-school textbook. After his high school graduation, Orlando entered the U. S. Army and was assigned to the police, doing stockade guard duty. From Le Havre, France, he was sent to Antwerp, Belgium and then to Germany, after his 1947 discharge, he returned to New York and began study at the Art Students League on the GI Bill. He entered the comic book field in 1949 when the packager Lloyd Jacquet assigned him to draw for the Catholic-oriented Treasure Chest and this was a Chuck White story that paid nine dollars a page. At the Jacquet Studio he met fellow artist Tex Blaisdell, and he was earning $25 a page at EC, and shortly after his first EC stories under his own name were published that summer, he married his first wife, Gloria, in September 1951. After EC, from 1956 to 1959, he drew Classics Illustrated adaptations, including Ben-Hur, A Tale of Two Cities, in addition to many contributions to ECs Mad, Orlando also scripted the Little Orphan Annie comic strip beginning in 1964. He did covers for Newsweek and New Times, and his work as an illustrator appeared in National Lampoon, childrens books, for Warren Publishings black-and-white horror-comics magazine Creepy, debuting in 1964, Orlando was not only an illustrator but also a story editor on early issues. His credit on the first issue masthead read, Story Ideas, in 1966, Orlando and writer E. Nelson Bridwell created the parody superhero team The Inferior Five in Showcase #62. This lighthearted feature would soon receive its own ongoing series, Orlando launched the Swing with Scooter series with writers Barbara Friedlander and Jack Miller in July 1966. Swamp Thing, Weird War Tales and The Witching Hour, also scripting for several of these titles, while eventually serving as DCs vice president, he guided the companys Special Projects department. In the late 1960s, Orlando hired Filipino artist Tony DeZuniga for work on some of DCs horror titles, in 1971, Orlando and DC publisher Carmine Infantino traveled to the Philippines on a recruiting trip for more artists. Alfredo Alcala, Mar Amongo, Ernie Chan, Alex Niño, Nestor Redondo, during the 1980s, Orlando began teaching at the School of Visual Arts, continuing as an art instructor there for many years. In 1987, he created an illustration for the text piece from Watchmen #5. The comic-within-a-comic pages were credited to the fictitious artist Walt Feinberg, the Orlando page was the only artwork for the series not by Gibbons
18.
Will Elder
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Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner said, He was a zany, and a lovable one. Longtime Mad writer-cartoonist Al Jaffee called Elder Absolutely brilliant and he was the star from the beginning. He had a feel for the kind of satire that eventually spread everywhere, Elder was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2003. Born Wolf William Eisenberg in the Bronx, New York, Elder was known in his teen years as Wolfie, Elder would later joke about his poor slum upbringing, The people who had garbage were rich, they had something to throw out. Elder attended New Yorks High School of Music and Art together with future Mad artists Harvey Kurtzman, John Severin, Al Jaffee and Al Feldstein. During World War II, he served as a part of the 668th Engineer Company of the First Army, sometime after returning home, he adopted the name Will Elder. At EC Comics, he inked Severins pencils on stories for Weird Fantasy, Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat and other titles. The Mad lampoon depicted the efforts of prisoner Melvin Mole to tunnel away from the prison, first with a spoon, then with a toothpick. According to Jaffee, Elder could have been the worlds greatest forger, Elder had a chameleon-like talent for mimicking the precise styles of other cartoonists, which made the satiric effect stronger. This ability was showcased in such pieces as Mickey Rodent, such was Elders ability that some of these parodies featured specific observations about the source materials art styles, with Elder switching illustrative gears in midpanel. One such sequence came when Mickey Rodent and Darnold Duck literally locate the border between Disney-style cartooning and a realistic drawing approach. Both characters gain a fifth finger on each hand as they cross over, Elders signature style, with extra humorous detail added upon humorous detail, is routinely described as chicken fat, a reference to soup preparation. As Elder told an interviewer, The term just came out of what we knew were the parts of the strip that gave it more flavor but did very little to advance the storyline. It advances the flavor of the soup and, as we all know now, Elders rampant insertion of background gags set the tone for the comic book, quickly spreading into the panels of his fellow artists and Mads imitators. Kurtzman described their process, I would write a story. In 2004, Elder told an interviewer, In Mad, Harvey never rejected any of my little extras in the story, I think he was much harder on the other artists, because my stuff made him laugh. As soon as he laughed I think he forgot that it didnt belong in the story, “I thought people would notice and would laugh, said Malle, but nobody did. Elder had drawn the article Restaurant, monty Pythons Terry Gilliam said of Elder, I dont know if anybodys really worked at that level as intensely as Willy did
19.
Reed Crandall
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Reed Leonard Crandall was an American illustrator and penciller of comic books and magazines. He was best known for the 1940s Quality Comics Blackhawk and for stories in EC Comics during the 1950s, Crandall was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009. Reed Crandall was born in Winslow, Indiana, the son of Rayburn Crandall, one cousin was reportedly official Grand Teton National Park resident artist and photographer Harrison Crandall. Crandall graduated from Newton High School in Newton, Kansas, in 1935 and his father died in the spring of Crandalls freshman year at art school, which Crandall left temporarily to return to Kansas. His mother and sister moved to Cleveland during Crandalls junior year, with his schoolmate Frank Borth, Crandall found work painting signs on storefront windows. Crandalls art influences included the painters and commercial illustrators N. C, wyeth, Howard Pyle and James Montgomery Flagg. Crandall drew for comic books from 1939 until 1973 and his first work appears in comics from publisher Quality Comics, for which he drew stories starring such superheroes as the Ray and Doll Man. His earliest confirmed cover art is for Fiction Houses Fight Comics #12 at the Grand Comics Database, during this time he also drew the adventures of Captain Triumph in Qualitys Crack Comics. His final Blackhawk work was a story, plus the cover. He drew dozens of stories across a variety of genres for the EC anthologies Crime SuspenStories, Shock SuspenStories, Tales from the Crypt, Two-Fisted Tales, The Vault of Horror, impact, Piracy, and Weird Fantasy and its sequel series, Weird Science-Fantasy. Following the demise of EC in the wake of the 1954 U. S. Crandalls work for Classics Illustrated consisted of joint projects with EC veteran George Evans on four titles,18, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, No. In 1960, he went under contract with the publisher of Treasure Chest, Crandall illustrated many covers and countless stories for Treasure Chest through 1972. In 1964, he illustrated books by Edgar Rice Burroughs for Canaveral Press, in June 1970, Crandall and Buster Crabbe were guests at the Multicon-70 convention in Oklahoma City. Crandall, who had left New York City in the 1960s in order to care for his mother in Wichita. Recovering by the time of his mothers death, he nonetheless suffered debilitated health and left art in 1974 to work as a night watchman, after suffering a stroke that year, he spent his remaining life in a nursing home and died in 1982 of a heart attack. One of his last published stories, This Graveyard is Not Deserted appeared in Creepy #54, Creepy #58 contained Soul and Shadow possibly his last published comic book work. Crandall was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009 and he is referenced in Michael Chabons Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. The fictional character Joe Kavalier refers to Crandall as the top comic-book artist of his era, tower Comics Checklist, Comic Book Artist #14 Crandall, Reed, at the Social Security Death Index
20.
Bernard Krigstein
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Bernard Krigstein, was an American illustrator and gallery artist who received acclaim for his innovative and influential approach to comic book art, notably in EC Comics. He was known as Bernie Krigstein, and his artwork displayed the signature B. His best-known work in books is the short story Master Race. Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Krigstein was trained as a classical painter and his earliest confirmed work in comics is penciling and inking the 10-page, patriotic kid gang feature The Liberty Lads in Harvey Comics Champ Comics #25. He went on to draw for Harvey and for the publisher Prize Comics through 1943, following World War II, he picked up again in 1946, working for numerous publishers but primarily Fawcett Comics. The organization went defunct shortly after publication of its third and final newsletter in June 1953, Krigstein began getting less work from his four mainstays — National Comics, Atlas Comics, MLJ Comics and Ziff-Davis. But during his presidency of the Society, the politically like-minded publisher of EC Comics, William Gaines, there, Krigstein would produce the most acclaimed stories of his career between 1953 and 1955. Krigsteins best-known work in books is the short story Master Race. The protagonist is a former Nazi death camp commandant named Reissman who had managed to elude justice until he is spotted ten years later riding the New York City Subway. Krigstein, who chafed at the limits of the material EC gave him to illustrate. The results were so striking that the company reworked the issue to accommodate the two extra pages, Art Spiegelman described the effect in The New Yorker, The two tiers of wordless staccato panels that climax the story. Have often been described as cinematic, a phrase thoroughly inadequate to the achievement, Krigstein condenses, reissmans life floats in space like the suspended matter in a lava lamp. The cumulative effect carries an impact—simultaneously visceral and intellectual—that is unique to comics, Krigstein also did humor, such as From Eternity Back to Here in Mad #12, Bringing Back Father in Mad #17 and Crash McCool in Mad #26. In 1962, he took a position at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, as he told a 1962 interviewer, Its what happens between these panels thats so fascinating. Look at all that dramatic action that one never gets a chance to see and its between these panels that the fascinating stuff takes place. And unless the artist would be permitted to delve into that and he was posthumously inducted into the comic book industrys Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2003. Krigsteins wife, Natalie, wrote romance comics and they had a daughter, Cora, in 1949. {{cn{{ The Krigstein Archives, his work in multiple media. Krigstein, Comics by Bernard Krigstein, edited by Greg Sadowski, ISBN 1-56097-573-3 A collection of comics stories by Krigstein
21.
Frank Frazetta
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Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media. He was the subject of a 2003 documentary, Frazetta was inducted into the comic book industrys Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999. Born Frank Frazzetta in Brooklyn, New York City, he removed one z from his last name early in his career to make his name seem less clumsy. The only boy among four children, he spent much time with his grandmother, when I drew something, she would be the one to say it was wonderful and would give me a penny to keep going. Sometimes I had nothing left to draw on but toilet paper, as I got older, I started drawing some pretty wild things for my age. I remember the teachers were always mesmerized by what I was doing, so I went to art school when I was a little kid, and even there the teachers were flipping out. At age eight, Frazetta attended the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts, E didnt teach me anything, really, Frazetta said in 1994. Hed come and see where I was working, and he say, Very nice. But perhaps if you did this or that and we never had any great conversations. He kind of left you on your own, I learned more from my friends there. In 1944, at age 16, Frazetta, who had always had this urge to be doing comic books and his first comic-book work was inking the eight-page story Snowman, penciled by John Giunta, in the one-shot Tally-Ho Comics, published by Swappers Quarterly and Almanac/Baily Publishing Company. It was not standard practice in comic books during this period to provide complete credits and his next confirmed comics works are two signed penciled-and-inked pieces in Prize Comics Treasure Comics #7, the four-page To William Penn founder of Philadelphia. Featuring his character Capt. Kidd Jr, in a 1991 interview in The Comics Journal, Frazetta credited Graham Ingels as the first one in the comic book industry to recognize his talent, and to give him jobs at Standard Comics in 1947. Frazetta was soon drawing comic books in many genres, including Westerns, fantasy, mystery, some of his earliest work was in funny animal comics, which he signed as Fritz. For Dells subsidiary company, Famous Funnies, Frazetta did war and human interest stories for Heroic Comics, as well as one pagers extolling the virtues of prayer and the evils of drug abuse. In comics like Personal Love and Movie Love, he did romance and celebrity stories, in the early 1950s, he worked for EC Comics, National Comics, Avon Comics, and several other comic book companies. Much of his work in books was done in collaboration with friend Al Williamson. Noticed because of his work on the Buck Rogers covers for Famous Funnies, Frazetta was also producing his own strip, Johnny Comet at this time, as well as assisting Dan Barry on the Flash Gordon daily strip
22.
Carl Wessler
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Carroll O. Wessler was one of at least five staff writers under editor-in-chief Stan Lee at Marvels 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics. Wessler began as an animator in the 1930s, working on Musical Memories, Wessler followed Fleischer when it relocated to Florida the following year. Wessler returned to New York when Fleischer relocated as Famous Studios and he also wrote and drew the humorous feature Happy Daze in at least two issues of Lev Gleason Publications Daredevil in 1951. Wessler began writing for Atlas Comics in November 1950 when he turned in the six-page story The Mad Monk about the historical figure Grigori Rasputin, published in Amazing Detective Cases #6. Going on staff in 1952, he became a member of the Atlas bullpen with fellow writers Hank Chapman, Ernie Hart, Paul S. Newman, Don Rico and, on teen-humor comics, future Mad cartoonist Al Jaffee. In 1953, EC Comics—which in the 1950s produced a number of horror and dramatic titles later considered to be classics of the field—recruited Wessler, Jack Oleck, Daniel Keyes and other writers. He wrote as well for ECs Aces High, Crime SuspenStories, Impact, Piracy, Shock SuspenStories and Weird Science-Fantasy. Following the demise of EC in the wake of the newly formed Comics Code Authoritys crackdown on graphically violent comic books, there he scripted science fiction/fantasy stories for Mystic and, prolifically, World of Fantasy. His last Atlas work appeared in issue #15 of the latter, Wessler next wrote for Harvey Comics, home of Casper the Friendly Ghost and other childrens characters, remaining there through the early 1970s. From 1967 to 1985, for DC editor Murray Boltinoff, Wessler wrote for the anthologies, including Ghosts, House of Mystery, The Unexpected. He also contributed stories to Eerie, and returned to his old home at the former Atlas, now Marvel Comics. 2, #1, and in the black-and-white horror-comics magazine Tales of the Zombie #7 and 10 and his last recorded credit is the story Hellfire by Night in G. I. Wessler was living in Miami, Florida at the time of his death, Wessler, Mary, In Memorium Carroll O. Wessler, Robin Snyders History of the Comics vol. 2, #5, p.1 Wessler, Mary, Stories Written by Carl Wessler for Timely Comics,1956, Robin Snyders History of the Comics vol. 2, #11, pp. 117–122 Wessler, Mary, Carl Wesslers Work for Simon and Kirby in 1954 and 1955,4, #2, p.32 Carl Wessler at the Comic Book DB Carl Wessler at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
23.
Otto Binder
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Otto Oscar Binder was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books. He is best known for his scripts for Captain Marvel Adventures. Born in Bessemer, Michigan, Otto Binder was the youngest of six children in a family that had emigrated from Austria a year earlier and he was born and raised Lutheran. They settled in Chicago in 1922, during a period rich with science fiction, the two began writing in partnership and sold their first story, The First Martian to Amazing Stories in 1930, it saw publication in 1932 under the pen name Eando Binder. Not earning enough writing to live on, Binder and his brother worked at many jobs, Earl found employment at an iron works. After a year, editor Ed Herron had Binder tackle Fawcetts most prominent character and he soon wrote for the spin-off features starring Captain Marvel, Jr. and Mary Marvel, the latter of whom he co-created with Marc Swayze. Binder spent from 1941 to 1953 with Fawcett, writing 986 stories, out of 1,743, over half the entire Marvel Family saga, per comic-book writer-editor E. Nelson Bridwell. His first Captain Marvel writing was the Dime Action Book novel Return of the Scorpion and his first Captain Marvel comic-book story was Captain Marvel Saves the King in Captain Marvel Adventures #9. He wrote for numerous other Fawcett features, as well as many two-page text fillers that were required in comics in order to be eligible for magazine postal rates and his text stories in Captain Marvel Adventures, under the Eando pseudonym, starred Lieutenant Jon Jarl of the Space Patrol. Binder and Beck unsuccessfully attempted to launch a newspaper strip featuring Mr. Tawky Tawny in 1953. Binder left Fawcett when the shut down its comic book division in 1953. For Quality Comics, Binder co-created Kid Eternity, and wrote Blackhawk, Doll Man, Uncle Sam, for MLJ Comics, he wrote stories starring Steel Sterling, the Shield, the Hangman, and the Black Hood. At Gold Key Comics, Binder co-created Mighty Samson and other characters and his science fiction for EC Comics includes Lost in Space, illustrated by Al Williamson, in Weird Science-Fantasy #28. He then moved on to his best-known DC work, the Superman group of titles, Binder and Plastino debuted the supervillain Brainiac and the Bottle City of Kandor in Action Comics #242 and co-created Supergirl in Action Comics #252. With artist collaborators, he co-created Krypto the Super Dog, the Phantom Zone, and the supporting characters Lucy Lane, Beppo the Super Monkey, in the first issue of Supermans Pal Jimmy Olsen, he introduced Jimmy Olsens signal-watch, and in #31, Jimmys Elastic Lad identity. He wrote the Lois Lane feature in Showcase #9 which served as a tryout for the characters own series, the characters first comic book appearance was in Superboy #68 by Binder and artist George Papp and Bizarro World was introduced in Action Comics #263. Binder scripted what Bridwell calls the classic Supermans Return to Krypton and his last Superman story was The Cage of Doom in Action Comics #377. Binder was featured in a story in the first issue of Shazam, the Binder character, drawn by C. C
24.
Jack Oleck
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Jack Oleck was an American novelist and comic book writer particularly known for his work in the horror genre. The brother-in-law of comics pioneer Joe Simon, Olecks comic book career was basically in two parts, during the Golden Age of comics Oleck wrote for EC Comics and the Simon-Jack Kirby Studio. From the late 1960s until his death in 1981, Oleck worked for DC Comics as a writer for their line of horror/suspense titles. Olecks first comics credit was as a writer for Lev Gleason Publications Silver Streak and he served in the U. S. Army during World War II, leaving the service as a sergeant. Oleck quickly established himself as the number one scriptwriter for Simon and Kirby, producing romance stories, war stories and crime features, EC Comics editor Al Feldstein recruited Oleck in the early 1950s, where he became one of the main writers of Crime SuspenStories. Oleck also scripted stories for ECs The Vault of Horror and Weird Science-Fantasy, as well as the EC Picto-Fiction titles, Crime Illustrated, Shock Illustrated, after temporarily leaving comics, Oleck was the publisher and editor of Interior Decorator News from 1957-1969. During this period, Oleck wrote a popular pulp fiction novel, Messalina, about the Roman empress. He penned a historical novel, Theodora, reflecting his fascination with. Oleck followed with a few more, lesser known books as well as at least one television script, Horror comics made a comeback in the late 1960s, and Oleck joined DC Comics stable of writers in 1968. His first story for DC, The House of Gargoyles, was published in House of Mystery #175. He also returned to the field, scripting stories for DCs Young Love and Young Romance. For House of Mystery #194, Oleck wrote the seven-page story The King Is Dead, conversely, Oleck wrote the final story Golden Age artist Bernard Baily drew, the eight-page His Brothers Keeper, for House of Mystery #279. Oleck and artist Alex Niño created the science-fiction feature Space Voyagers in Rima, Oleck and Alfredo Alcala created Kong the Untamed in 1975, and Oleck was the writer of the short-lived series starring Kong. Olecks final story for DC was Legend of the Lost in House of Mystery #287, in the 1970s, Oleck wrote horror paperback novels, including two film tie-ins
25.
The Vault of Horror (comics)
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The Vault of Horror was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear, the Vault of Horror hit newsstands with its April/May 1950 issue and ceased publication with its December/January 1955 issue, producing a total of 29 issues. Horror comics emerged as a comic book genre after World War II when young adult males lost interest in caped crimebusters. In 1948, Adventures Into the Unknown became the first regularly published horror title, with issue #12 the War Against Crime title was replaced with The Vault of Horror. The Vault-Keeper became the titles sardonic host and commentator, occasionally sharing duties with the Old Witch, as the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide explains, #15 printed and blackened out on inside front cover with Vol.1, No.1 printed over it. Evidently, several of No.15 were printed before a decision was not to drop the Vault of Horror. The print run was stopped on No.15 and continued on No.1, all of the No.15 issues were changed as described above. Craig illustrated all the covers for the run and was responsible for the lead story of all but issues #13. He also wrote all his own stories in Vault, something rarely done at EC, Gaines and Feldstein wrote almost every other story until late 1953/early 1954 when outside writers Carl Wessler and Jack Oleck were brought in. P. Lovecrafts In the Vault Terror on the Moors – Clark Ashton Smiths The Nameless Offspring Baby Its Cold Inside – H. P and they reached an agreement for EC to do authorized versions of Bradburys short fiction. These official adaptations include, Lets Play Poison The Lake Although ECs horror stable consisted of three magazines, there was little beyond their titles to distinguish them. Each magazine had its titular host, but the duties for any one issue were typically shared with the hosts of the other two. Thus, an issue of The Vault of Horror would contain two stories told by the Vault-Keeper, one by the Crypt-Keeper and one by the Old Witch. The professional rivalry between these three GhoulLunatics was often played for comic effect, the Vault-Keeper was the primary host of The Vault of Horror. He was introduced to the public in War against Crime #10 and he was a frightening presence in those early issues, an ancient inquisitor, hooded and robed, presiding over the empty dungeon of his bloody past. But he soon evolved into a more comedic horror host, delivering an irreverent, craig also drew the Vault-Keeper in his guest appearances in the other comics, although another artist frequently drew the rest of the story. For the final four issues of The Vault of Horror, The Vault-Keeper was joined by Drusilla, in 1954, Gaines and Feldstein intended to add a fourth book to their horror publications by reactivating an earlier title, The Crypt of Terror. They were stopped dead in their tracks, however, hearings targeted violent comic books—which fared poorly in the proceedings
26.
James M. Cain
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James Mallahan Cain was an American author and journalist. Cain vehemently opposed labeling, but he is associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and is seen as one of the creators of the roman noir. Several of his crime novels inspired successful movies, Cain was born into an Irish Catholic family in Annapolis, Maryland. The family moved to Chestertown, Maryland, in 1903, in 1910, Cain graduated from Washington College, where his father, James W. Cain, served as president. By 1914 Cain had decided to become a writer and he began working as a journalist for the Baltimore American and then the Baltimore Sun. Cain was drafted into the United States Army and spent the year of World War I in France writing for an army magazine. Upon returning to the United States, Cain continued working as a journalist, writing editorials for the New York World and a play, a short story and he briefly served as the managing editor of The New Yorker and later worked mainly on screenplays and novels. His first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, was published in 1934, Two years later Double Indemnity was serialized in Liberty magazine. In his novel The Moth, music is important in the life of the main character, cains fourth wife, Florence Macbeth, was a retired opera singer. For Algiers Cain received a credit for additional dialogue, and he had story credits for other films and this idea was dubbed the Cain plan in the media. The plan was denounced as communist by some writers, who formed the American Writers Association to oppose it, James T. Farrell was the foremost of these opponents. The Saturday Review printed a debate between Cain and Farrell in November 1946, Farrell argued that the commercial Hollywood writers would control the market and keep out independents. In his reply, Cain argued that his opponents understood the issue incorrectly as freedom versus control and it is fear of reprisals from publishers, Cain said, that is the real cause of opposition from well-to-do writers. Although Cain worked vigorously to promote the Authority, it did not gain support. Cain was married to Mary Clough in 1919 and that marriage ended in divorce, and he soon married Elina Sjösted Tyszecka. Cain never had any children of his own, but he was close to Elinas two children from a previous marriage, in 1944 Cain married the film actress Aileen Pringle, but the marriage was a tempestuous union and dissolved in a bitter divorce two years later. His fourth marriage, to Florence Macbeth, lasted until her death in 1966, Cain continued writing up to his death, at the age of 85. He published many novels from the late 1940s onward, but none achieved the financial, hard-Boiled Books, Four crime writers from Maryland
27.
Jim Thompson (writer)
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James Myers Thompson was an American author and screenwriter, known for his hardboiled crime fiction. Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original publications by houses. Despite some positive critical notice—notably by Anthony Boucher in The New York Times—he was little-recognized in his lifetime, only after death did Thompsons literary stature grow, when in the late 1980s, several novels were re-published in the Black Lizard series of re-discovered crime fiction. Thompsons writing culminated in a few of his works, The Killer Inside Me, Savage Night, A Hell of a Woman. A number of Thompsons books became popular films, including The Getaway, the writer R. V. ever wrote a book within miles of Thompson. Similarly, in the introduction to Now and on Earth, Stephen King says he most admires Thompsons work because The guy was over the top, the guy was absolutely over the top. Big Jim didnt know the meaning of the word stop, there are three brave lets inherent in the foregoing, he let himself see everything, he let himself write it down, then he let himself publish it. Thompson was nicknamed as being a Dimestore Dostoevsky by writer Geoffrey OBrien, film director Stephen Frears, who directed an adaptation of Thompsons The Grifters as 1990s The Grifters, also identified elements of Greek tragedy in his themes. Thompsons life was nearly as colorful as his fiction, which was semi-autobiographical, or, at least, Thompsons father was sheriff of Caddo County, Oklahoma. He ran for the legislature in 1906, but was defeated. The Thompson family moved to Texas, Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma Territory, and began writing early, a few short pieces were published in his mid-teens. He was intelligent and well-read, but had little interest in or inclination towards formal education, for about two years during prohibition in Fort Worth, Texas, Thompson worked long and often wild nights as a bellboy while attending school in the day. He worked at the Hotel Texas, one biographical profile reports that Thompson quickly adapted to the needs of the hotels guests, busily catering to tastes ranging from questionable morality to directly and undeniably illegal. Bootleg liquor was ubiquitous, and Thompsons brief trips to procure heroin and he was soon earning up to $300 per week more than his official $15 monthly wage. He smoked and drank heavily, and at nineteen he suffered a nervous breakdown, in 1926, Thompson began working as an oil field laborer. In the oil fields he met Industrial Workers of the World member, organizer and musician Harry McClintock, with his father he began an independent oil drilling operation that was ultimately unsuccessful. Thompson returned to Fort Worth, intending to attend school and to write professionally, Thompson’s autobiographical Oil Field Vignettes appeared in 1929. He began attending the University of Nebraska the same year as part of a program for gifted students with educational backgrounds
28.
Suspense (radio drama)
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Suspense is a radio drama series broadcast on CBS Radio from 1942 through 1962. Approximately 945 episodes were broadcast during its run, and more than 900 still exist. Suspense went through several phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors. In its early years, the program made only occasional forays into science fiction, notable exceptions include adaptations of Curt Siodmaks Donovans Brain and H. P. Lovecrafts The Dunwich Horror, but by the late 1950s, such material was regularly featured. Alfred Hitchcock directed its audition show and this was an adaptation of The Lodger a story Hitchcock had filmed in 1926 with Ivor Novello. With the co-operation of his producer, Walter Wanger, Alfred Hitchcock received the honor of directing his first radio show for the American public. The condition agreed upon for Hitchcocks appearance was that CBS make a pitch to the audience about his and Wangers latest film. To add flavor to the deal, Wanger threw in Edmund Gwenn, all three men would be seen in the upcoming film, which was due for a theatrical release the next month. Both Marshall and Hitchcock decided on the story to bring to the airwaves. Alfred Hitchcock had filmed this story for Gainsborough in 1926, character actor Joseph Kearns also had a small part in the drama, and Wilbur Hatch, head musician for CBS Radio at the time, composed and conducted the music specially for the program. This way, if the audiences curiosity got the better of them, for the next few weeks, hundreds of letters came in from faithful listeners asking how the story ended. Actually a few wrote threats claiming that it was indecent and immoral to present such a production without giving the solution, in the earliest years, the program was hosted by The Man in Black with many episodes written or adapted by the prominent mystery author John Dickson Carr. First broadcast on May 25,1943, it was restaged seven times —each time with Moorehead, the popularity of the episode led to a film adaptation, Sorry, Wrong Number, starring Barbara Stanwyck. Nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, Stanwyck recreated the role on Lux Radio Theatre, loni Anderson had the lead in the TV movie Sorry, Wrong Number. Another notable early episode was Fletchers The Hitch Hiker, in which a motorist is stalked on a trip by a nondescript man who keeps appearing on the side of the road. This episode originally aired on September 2,1942, and was adapted for television by Rod Serling as a 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone. After the network sustained the program during its first two years, the sponsor became Roma Wines, and then, Autolite Spark Plugs, eventually Harlow Wilcox became the pitchman, william Spier, Norman MacDonnell and Anton M. Leader were among the producers and directors. Suspense received a Special Citation of Honor Peabody Award for 1946, the programs heyday was in the early 1950s, when radio actor, producer and director Elliott Lewis took over
29.
W. W. Jacobs
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William Wymark W. W. Jacobs was an English author of short stories and novels. Although much of his work was humorous, he is most famous for his horror story The Monkeys Paw, Jacobs was born in Wapping, London, his father was a wharf manager on the South Devon wharf at Lower East Smithfield. He was educated at a school in London and later at Birkbeck College. In 1879, Jacobs began work as a clerk in the service, in the Post Office Savings Bank. His road to success was slow, Arnold Bennett writing in 1898 was astonished that Jacobs turned down the sum of £500 for six short stories. Jacobs was financially secure enough to be able to leave the Post Office in 1899, Jacobs is now remembered for his macabre tale The Monkeys Paw and several other ghost stories, including The Toll House and Jerry Bundler. However, the majority of his output was humorous in tone, Many Cargoes was followed by the novel The Skippers Wooing in 1897, and another collection of short stories, Sea Urchins set the seal on his popularity. Among his other titles are Captains All, Sailors Knots, written with Guy Bolton, published in 1954. The stories which made up Many Cargoes had a previous serial publication, while those in Sea Urchins were, for the most part. From October 1898 Jacobs stories were being published in The Strand, an arrangement which lasted almost to his death, john Drinkwater described Jacobs fiction as being in the Dickens tradition. Jacobs short-story output declined somewhat around the time of the First World War and his literary efforts between then and his death were predominantly adaptations of his own short stories for the stage. His first stage work, The Ghost of Jerry Bundler was performed in London in 1899, revived in 1902, Jacobs married Agnes Eleanor Williams in 1900 at West Ham, Essex. Prior to their marriage, Agnes had been a noted Suffragette, the 1901 Census records their living with their first child, a three-month-old daughter, at Kings Place Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex. Also recorded in this household were his journalist sister Amy and his sister-in-law Nancy Williams, the Jacobs Kings Place Road household also included a cook and an additional domestic servant. Altogether, the Jacobs were to have two sons and three daughters, Jacobs went on to set up home in Loughton, Essex, where he had two houses, the Outlook, in Park Hill, and Feltham House, in Goldings Hill. On the site of the latter is a plaque to him. Loughton is the Claybury of some of the stories. Another blue plaque shows Jacobs central London residence at 15 Gloucester Gate, Jacobs stated that although he had held left-wing opinions in his youth, in his later years his political position was Conservative and Individualistic
30.
Edgar Allan Poe
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Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and he is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the countrys earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a difficult life. Poe was born in Boston, the child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year, thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but Poe was with them well into young adulthood, tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of secondary education for the young man. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money, Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at time that his publishing career began, albeit humbly, with the anonymous collection of poems Tamerlane and Other Poems. With the death of Frances Allan in 1829, Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement, however, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, and he ultimately parted ways with John Allan. Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the several years working for literary journals and periodicals. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, in Richmond in 1836, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845, Poe published his poem The Raven to instant success and his wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. For years, he had been planning to produce his own journal The Penn, Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, a number of his homes are dedicated museums today. The Mystery Writers of America present an award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. He was born Edgar Poe in Boston on January 19,1809 and he had an elder brother William Henry Leonard Poe, and a younger sister Rosalie Poe. Their grandfather David Poe Sr. had emigrated from Cavan, Ireland to America around the year 1750, Edgar may have been named after a character in William Shakespeares King Lear, a play that the couple were performing in 1809
31.
The Cask of Amontillado
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The Cask of Amontillado is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in the November 1846 issue of Godeys Ladys Book. The story is set in an unnamed Italian city at time in an unspecified year. Like several of Poes stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, as in The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe conveys the story from the murderers perspective. The storys narrator, Montresor, tells the story of the day that he took his revenge on Fortunato, angry over numerous injuries and some unspecified insult, he plots to murder his friend during Carnival when the man is drunk, dizzy, and wearing a jesters motley. Montresor lures Fortunato into a private wine-tasting excursion by telling him he has obtained a pipe of what he believes to be a rare vintage of amontillado and he mentions obtaining confirmation of the pipes contents by inviting a fellow wine aficionado, Luchesi, for a private tasting. Fortunato goes with Montresor to the cellars of the latters palazzo. Montresor offers wine to Fortunato in order to keep him inebriated, Montresor warns Fortunato, who has a bad cough, of the dampness, and suggests they go back, Fortunato insists on continuing, claiming that shall not die of a cough. During their walk, Montresor mentions his family coat of arms, at one point, Fortunato makes an elaborate, grotesque gesture with an upraised wine bottle. When Montresor appears not to recognize the gesture, Fortunato asks, Montresor says he is, and when Fortunato, disbelieving, requests a sign, Montresor displays a trowel he had been hiding. When they come to a niche, Montresor tells his victim that the amontillado is within, Fortunato enters drunk and unsuspecting and therefore, does not resist as Montresor quickly chains him to the wall. Montresor then declares that, since Fortunato wont go back, Montresor must positively leave him there, Montresor reveals brick and mortar, previously hidden among the bones nearby, and walls up the niche, entombing his friend alive. At first, Fortunato, who sobers up faster than Montresor anticipated he would, shakes the chains, Fortunato then screams for help, but Montresor mocks his cries, knowing nobody can hear them. Fortunato laughs weakly and tries to pretend that he is the subject of a joke, as the murderer finishes the topmost row of stones, Fortunato wails, For the love of God, Montresor. to which Montresor replies, Yes, for the love of God. He listens for a reply but hears only the bells ringing. Before placing the last stone, he drops a burning torch through the gap and he claims that he feels sick at heart, but dismisses this reaction as an effect of the dampness of the catacombs. In the last few sentences, Montresor reveals that 50 years later, the murderer concludes, In pace requiescat. The Cask of Amontillado was first published in the November 1846 issue of Godeys Ladys Book, which was, at the time, the story was only published one additional time during Poes life. The mystery in The Cask of Amontillado is in Montresors motive for murder, without a detective in the story, it is up to the reader to solve the mystery
32.
John Collier (fiction writer)
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John Henry Noyes Collier was a British-born author and screenwriter best known for his short stories, many of which appeared in The New Yorker from the 1930s to the 1950s. Most were collected in The John Collier Reader, earlier collections include a 1951 volume, the famous Fancies and Goodnights, individual stories are frequently anthologized in fantasy collections. John Colliers writing has been praised by such as Anthony Burgess, Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, Wyndham Lewis. He appears to have given few interviews in his life, those include conversations with biographer Betty Richardson, Tom Milne, born in London in 1901, John Collier was the son of John George and Emily Mary Noyes Collier. He had one sister, Kathleen Mars Collier and his father, John George Collier, was one of seventeen children, and could not afford formal education, he worked as a clerk. Nor could John George afford schooling for his son beyond prep school, John Collier and he was privately educated by his uncle Vincent Collier, a novelist. An uncle, Vincent Collier, himself a minor novelist, introduced the boy to 17th and 18th century literature, Collier particularly admired Jonathan Swift, and an 18th-century satirists view of life became his own. From his first work to his version of Paradise Lost, Collier saw humans, flawed but with potential, everywhere contaminated by narrow creeds, institutions, coteries, vanities, and careers. When, at the age of 18 or 19, Collier was asked by his father what he had chosen as a vocation, his reply was, I want to be a poet. During this time, being not overly burdened by any financial responsibilities, he developed a penchant for games of chance, conversation in cafes and he was married to early silent film actress Shirley Palmer in 1936, they were divorced. His second marriage in 1945 was to New York actress Beth Kay and his third wife was Harriet Hess Collier, who survived him, they had one son, John G. S. Collier, born in Nice, France, on May 18,1958. He began writing poetry at age nineteen, and was first published in 1920 and he felt that his poetry was unsuccessful, however, he was not able to make his two selves speak with one voice. Being an admirer of James Joyce, Collier found a solution in Joyces Ulysses, the few poems he wrote during this time were afterwards published in a volume under the title Gemini. While he had some short stories during the period in which he was trying to find success as a poet. It enjoyed a certain small popularity and critical approval that helped to sell his short stories, Colliers book, however, appeared immediately after the economic crash and the start of the Great Depression in 1929, when the tone of the literary and intellectual world darkened. While his novel was received, it did not achieve the fame of the earlier fantasies. Much in this novel echoes, without Swifts bitterness, the contrast between Gulliver and the rational Houyhnhnms in Gullivers Travels, author Peter Straub has done the same with fake, negative reviews, in admiration of Collier. His second novel, Toms A-Cold, A Tale was grim, depicting a barbaric and dystopian future England, John Clute wrote, Radically dissimilar to his most familiar work is Toms A-Cold
33.
Ray Bradbury
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Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction author and screenwriter. While most of his best known work is in speculative fiction, he wrote in other genres, such as the coming-of-age novel Dandelion Wine or the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows. Recipient of numerous awards, including a 2007 Pulitzer Citation, Bradbury also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick, many of his works were adapted to comic book, television and film formats. On his death in 2012, The New York Times called Bradbury the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream. Bradbury was born on August 22,1920 in Waukegan, Illinois, to Esther Bradbury, a Swedish immigrant, and Leonard Spaulding Bradbury and he was given the middle name Douglas, after the actor Douglas Fairbanks. Bradbury was related to the American Shakespeare scholar Douglas Spaulding and was descended from Mary Bradbury, Bradbury was surrounded by an extended family during his early childhood and formative years in Waukegan, Illinois. An aunt read him stories when he was a child. This period provided foundations for both the author and his stories, in Bradburys works of fiction, 1920s Waukegan becomes Green Town, Illinois. The family arrived with only US$40, which paid for rent and this meant that they could stay, however, and Bradbury—who was in love with Hollywood—was ecstatic. Bradbury attended Los Angeles High School and was active in the drama club and he often roller-skated through Hollywood in hopes of meeting celebrities. Among the creative and talented people Bradbury met this way were special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen, throughout his youth, Bradbury was an avid reader and writer and knew at a young age that he was going into one of the arts. Bradbury began writing his own stories at age eleven, during the Great Depression — sometimes writing on the available paper, butcher paper. In his youth, he spent much time in the Carnegie library in Waukegan, reading such authors as H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, at twelve, Bradbury began writing traditional horror stories and said he tried to imitate Poe until he was about eighteen. In addition to comics, he loved Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan of the Apes, the Warlord of Mars impressed him so much that at the age of twelve he wrote his own sequel. The young Bradbury was also a cartoonist and loved to illustrate and he wrote about Tarzan and drew his own Sunday panels. He listened to the radio show Chandu the Magician, and when the show went off the air every night he would sit, as a teen in Beverly Hills, he often visited his mentor and friend, science fiction writer Bob Olsen, sharing ideas and maintaining contact. In 1936, at a bookstore in Hollywood, Bradbury discovered a handbill promoting meetings of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society. Excited to find there were others sharing his interest, Bradbury joined a weekly Thursday-night conclave at age sixteen, at age 17, Bradbury read stories published in Astounding Science Fiction, and read everything by Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C
34.
Plagiarism
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Plagiarism is the wrongful appropriation and stealing and publication of another authors language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions and the representation of them as ones own original work. Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics and it is subject to sanctions like penalties, suspension, and even expulsion. Recently, cases of plagiarism have been identified in academia. The modern concept of plagiarism as immoral and originality as an ideal emerged in Europe in the 18th century, Plagiarism is not in itself a crime, but can constitute copyright infringement. In academia and industry, it is a serious ethical offense, Plagiarism is not defined or punished by law, but rather by institutions. In the 1st century, the use of the Latin word plagiarius to denote stealing someone elses work was pioneered by the Roman poet Martial, plagiary, a derivative of plagiarus, was introduced into English in 1601 by dramatist Ben Jonson to describe someone guilty of literary theft. The derived form plagiarism was introduced into English around 1620, the Latin plagiārius, kidnapper, and plagium, kidnapping, have the root plaga, based on the Indo-European root *-plak, to weave. Plagiarism specifically is not mentioned in any current statute, either criminal or civil, some cases may be treated as unfair competition or a violation of the doctrine of moral rights. The increased availability of copyrighted material due to the development of technology has furthered the debate as to whether copyright offences are criminal. In short, people are asked to use the guideline, if you did not write it yourself, Plagiarism is not the same as copyright infringement. Copyright infringement is a violation of the rights of a copyright holder, Plagiarism, in contrast, is concerned with the unearned increment to the plagiarizing authors reputation, or the obtaining of academic credit, that is achieved through false claims of authorship. Thus, plagiarism is considered an offense against the plagiarists audience. Plagiarism is also considered an offense against anyone who has provided the plagiarist with a benefit in exchange for what is specifically supposed to be original content. In such cases, acts of plagiarism may sometimes form part of a claim for breach of the plagiarists contract, or, if done knowingly. Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered academic dishonesty or academic fraud, many institutions use plagiarism detection software to uncover potential plagiarism and to deter students from plagiarizing. Most universities address the issue of academic integrity by providing students with thorough orientations, required writing courses, indeed, there is a virtually uniform understanding among college students that plagiarism is wrong. Nevertheless, each year students are brought before their institutions’ disciplinary boards on charges that they have misused sources in their schoolwork, an extreme form of plagiarism, known as contract cheating involves students paying someone else, such as an essay mill, to do their work for them. In journalism, plagiarism is considered a breach of journalistic ethics, some individuals caught plagiarizing in academic or journalistic contexts claim that they plagiarized unintentionally, by failing to include quotations or give the appropriate citation
35.
Ballantine Books
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Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998, ballantines logo is a pair of mirrored letter Bs back to back. The firms early editors were Stanley Kauffman and Bernard Shir-Cliff, following Fawcett Publications controversial 1950 introduction of Gold Medal paperback originals rather than reprints, Lion Books, Avon and Ace also decided to publish originals. When the first Ballantine Book, Cameron Hawleys Executive Suite was published in 1952, houghton Mifflin published the $3.00 hardcover at the same time Ballantine distributed its 35¢ paperback. By February 1953, Ballantine had sold 375,000 copies and was preparing to print 100,000 more, houghton Mifflin sold 22,000 hardback copies in its first printing. Ballantines sales soon totaled 470,000 copies, instead of hurting hardback sales as some predicted, the paperback edition instead gave the book more publicity. After the film rights were sold to MGM, Robert Wise directed the 1954 film, on the heels of that kind of sales and publicity, other Ballantine titles were seen in spinner racks across the country. During the early 1950s, Ballantine attracted attention as one of the publishers of paperback science fiction and fantasy. The Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth novel had first appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction under the title Gravy Planet, Kauffman scored when he acquired and edited Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451. Ballantines science fiction also included the unusual Star Science Fiction Stories. With cover paintings by Richard Powers, this anthology series offered new fiction rather than reprints. Edited by Frederik Pohl, it attracted readers by successfully combining the formats of both magazines and paperbacks. In the early 1960s, the company engaged in a rivalry with Ace Books for the rights to reprint the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. A separate Canadian edition of the books was published with different front cover art work, Tolkien asked for permission to add the back cover message. There was literally no publication that did not carry some kind of outraged article, and of course, the whole science fiction fraternity got behind the book, this was their meat and drink. In 1969, Lin Carter edited the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, during the mid-1970s, Ballantine published the Star Trek Logs, a ten-volume series of Alan Dean Foster adaptations of the animated Star Trek. In 1968, Ballantine published a book related to Star Trek, The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield. After publishing The World of Lil Abner, Ballantine introduced Shel Silverstein in 1956 with his Grab Your Socks, collection of cartoons from Pacific Stars and Stripes
36.
Gemstone Publishing
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Gemstone Publishing is a U. S. company that publishes comic books and collectors guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi, Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has reprinted EC Comics of the 1950s, additionally, the company is the current home of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. While popularly known as a reprint house, Gemstones comics were actually dominated by stories that were new to United States audiences, vintage material, though popular with readers, was not the majority of the content. Gemstone issued annual editions of Christmas Parade, Vacation Parade, and Spring Fever, a giveaway for Free Comic Book Day, Gemstones first large-size book collection, Mickey And The Gang, Classic Stories In Verse, was issued in November 2005. It was a compilation, edited by David Gerstein, of Disney cartoon story pages published from 1934 to 1944 in Good Housekeeping magazine, Gemstone has also published reprints EC Comics. Oversize, hardback, slip-cased collections of comics had been previously published in black & white by Cochran during the 1980s as The Complete EC Library. In 2006, Cochran and Gemstone began publication of a series of full-color EC Archives editions, ostensibly beginning to publish two volumes every two months, the schedule changed to one-per-month and recently one every couple of months. In addition, Deluxe versions of Weird Science Vol. s 1 &2, Shock Suspenstories Vol.1, in early 2009, the future of Gemstone Publishing was unclear, after reports of unpaid printing bills, particularly from the EC Archives. In April, Geppi responded to the uncertainty, noting that there had been a reduction in staff at Gemstone. It seems certain that both lines will continue in some form, kids acquired all comic publishing licenses regarding Disney characters, and started publishing comic titles priorly owned by Gemstone by the second half of 2009. Gemstone Publishings Official Disney Comics site Gemstone Publishing at the INDUCKS Interview with editor John Clark on the launch of Gemstones Disney comics line
37.
EC Archives
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The output of Bill Gaines EC Comics line in the 1940s and 1950s is one of the most critically acclaimed of the pre-Comics Code comics publishers. Such EC Comics titles as Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and Weird Science are known even to people unfamiliar with the material, due to movie. In 2006, Gemstone began producing a more durable series of hardback reprint collections designed by Michael Kronenberg, each book reprints six issues for a total of 24 stories. Allen Jamison and Jamison Services had previously done coloring for the DC Archives, also contributing to the project at Cochrans West Plains office were operations manager Angela Meyer and production artist Chris Rock. We are now able to color these comics with an infinite palette, if these new computer generated color techniques had been available in the 1950s, I think Bill Gaines would have used it because it makes the EC work even more beautiful. It has been my experience that the most dedicated EC fans are not satisfied to have them reprinted only one, or two, ways. Those fans will have the old comics in the EC Annuals, the black and white art in the EC Library, the entirety of the New Trend and New Direction comics were planned for eventual release. Kronenberg suggested ECs Pre-Trend titles might also be reprinted in Archive form, however, ECs black-and-white Picto-Fiction magazines are unlikely to be reprinted as EC Archives. The EC Archives publishing history has been a troubled one, the original run was interrupted after thirteen volumes, due to financial difficulties at Gemstone Publishing, in 2008. The line was revived for two volumes by GC Press LLC, a boutique imprint established by Russ Cochran and Grant Geissman. Most recently the line has taken up by Dark Horse Comics. In the early 1950s, comic publishers, seeking to save money on second-class postage permits, frequently changed the titles of their comics. Because of this, many featured in The EC Archives series do not start with #1. War Against Crime was replaced by The Vault of Horror and so numbering for The Vault of Horror begins with issue #12, similarly, Crime Patrol was replaced with The Crypt of Terror for issue #17. By issue #20, the title changed again to the familiar Tales from the Crypt, the Crypt of Terror is not considered a separate series and is included in Tales from the Crypt, Volume One. Because of this, there are several comics within those series that share the same issue number, following The Haunt of Fears issue numbering being reset, its previous numbering was instead used for a new title, Two-Fisted Tales. Thus, Two-Fisted Tales begins with issue #18, the table below uses the original numbering. With a pair of gloves for handling of the expensive volumes
38.
HBO
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Home Box Office is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Time Warner through its respective flagship company Home Box Office, Inc. HBO is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service in the United States, in 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the US$1.68 billion it accrued in 2013. HBO has 49 million subscribers in the United States and 130 million worldwide as of 2016, the network provides seven 24-hour multiplex channels, including HBO Comedy, HBO Latino, HBO Signature and HBO Family. It launched the streaming service HBO Now in April 2015, and has over 2 million subscribers in the United States as of February 2017. In addition to its U. S. subscriber base, HBO distributes content in at least 151 countries, HBO subscribers generally pay for an extra tier of service that includes other cable- and satellite-exclusive channels even before paying for the channel itself. Cable providers can require the use of a converter box – usually digital – in order to receive HBO, many HBO programs have been syndicated to other networks and broadcast television stations, and a number of HBO-produced series and films have been released on DVD. The new system, which Dolan named Sterling Information Services, became the first urban underground cable system in the United States. In that same year, Time-Life, Inc. purchased a 20% stake in Dolans company, in the summer of 1971, while on a family vacation in France, Charles Dolan began to think of ideas to make Sterling Manhattan profitable. He came up with the concept for a television service. Dolan later presented his idea to Time-Life management, though satellite distribution seemed only a distant possibility at the time, he persuaded Time-Life to back him on the project. To gauge whether consumers would be interested in subscribing to a pay television service, in a meeting of Dolan and some Time-Life executives who were working on the project, various other names were discussed for the new service. Home Box Office launched on November 8,1972, however, HBOs launch came without fanfare in the press, as it was not covered by any local or national media outlets. Home Box Office distributed its first sports event immediately after the film, Four months later in February 1973, Home Box Office aired its first television special, the Pennsylvania Polka Festival. Home Box Office would use a network of relay towers to distribute its programming to cable systems throughout its service area. Sterling Manhattan Cable continued to lose money because the company had only a small base of 20,000 customers in Manhattan. Time-Life dropped the Sterling name and the company was renamed Manhattan Cable Television under Time-Lifes control in March 1973, Gerald Levin, who had been with Home Box Office since it began operations as its vice president of programming, replaced Dolan as the companys president and chief executive officer. In September 1973, Time-Life, Inc. completed its acquisition of the pay service. HBO would eventually increase its fortunes within two years, by April 1975, the service had around 100,000 subscribers in Pennsylvania and New York state, in 1974, they settled on using a geostationary communications satellite to transmit HBO to cable providers throughout the United States
