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HEROIC EXPLOITS

THE HELL OF WAR

HORROR & TERROR

SCIENCE FICTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Roger Hill............................................................................................................................4 One: A Young Boy Develops Artistic Roots..........................................................................6 Two: The Cleveland School of Art................................................................................................ 14 Three: New York City Beckons.......................................................................................................23 Four: Surviving in the Iger Shop...................................................................................................36 Five: Working for Busy Arnold........................................................................................................54 Six: The Arrival of the Blackhawks.............................................................................................62 Seven: Faces, Forms, and Figures..................................................................................................74 Eight: The Military Artist Goes Military............................................................................86 Nine: Big Changes on the Horizon................................................................................................98 Ten: Public Taste Keeps Changing.............................................................................................110 Eleven: The Way of All Good Things...................................................................................124 Twelve: Freelancing on the Outside.........................................................................................139 Thirteen: Those Entertaining (and Controversial) Comics..............................150 Fourteen: The Great Recession....................................................................................................180 Fifteen: A Treasure Chest of Classics................................................................................195 Sixteen: The Edgar Rice Burroughs Years......................................................................204 Seventeen: The Comics Bounce Back....................................................................................218 Eighteen: Flash Gordon and Squa Tront........................................................................230 Nineteen: The Spotlight Dims.......................................................................................................238 Twenty: A Personal Remembrance: The Final Chapter.....................................251 Acknowledgments and About the Author...................................................................254

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

CHAPTER ONE

A Young Boy Develops Artistic Roots

numerous woodworking industries, wagon, and carriage shops, machine shops, glove and canning factories, a creamery, and a grain elevator. Today, Jasper is a community of a little over fifteen thousand people and often referred to as the “Wood Capital of the World,” boasting a very large number of furniture companies.

t was on the quiet and secluded farmlands of Indiana that one of America’s most talented comic artists found both his first home and inspiration as an artist. Reed Leonard Crandall, Jr., was only 4 years old when his artistic talent took root on the family farm in Jasper, Indiana. It is here, amidst the rhythms of rural living, that a young boy launched his flight into the fantasy world of comic art — a journey that lasted for nearly 50 years — and came to an end in a Wichita, Kansas, retirement facility in 1982. But, during his prolific career, comic art enthusiasts enjoyed some of his best “illustrative comic art,” which still awes and inspires comic art devotees today.

The connection to Judge Dillon came through Crandall’s mother, Delia Louise Highwood, who was born on December 23, 1891, in Princeton, Indiana. Very little is known about her early childhood other than she was orphaned at a young age and separated from a brother living in Newton, Kansas. Judge Dillon eventually adopted the young Delia, who came to live with him in Jasper, learning the tempo of farm living by helping the hired hands with the endless chores. During the summer of 1913, the 22-year-old Delia’s simple life took a turn when she made a trip to Newton to visit her brother. There she met Rayburn Leonard Crandall, a handsome young man, who at 23 years of age became quite fond of Delia. When the young couple met, Rayburn was working as a plumber for the Mort Linthicum Plumbing Shop, in Newton, and was a man of many interests, beyond the pipes and fittings of the plumbing trade. This young man, who had been born in Newton on August 19, 1890, the eldest son of Reed and Eila (Herrick) Crandall

Born on February 22, 1917, in a log cabin in Dubois County, near Jasper, Indiana, Reed Leonard Crandall, Jr. was the second child of Delia and Rayburn Crandall. The young couple lived on a farm belonging to the honorable John F. Dillon, a part-time farmer and local judge who sat on the bench in nearby Bloomington. Judge Dillon, whose ancestors had helped settle the little town of Jasper in 1830, owned a sizable acreage of land in Jasper, the seat of government for Dubois County situated in the heart of southern Indiana on the Patoka River. Located 122 miles southwest of Indianapolis, the town is rich in heritage and noted for its heavily German Catholic ancestral roots. During the period that Reed lived there, the people of Jasper made their living by farming as did so many people residing in America’s heartland in the early 20th century. The city was also the home of Above inset: Delia Louise Crandall and her two sons. Lower right: The Crandall brothers on the farm with their collie, King.

Chapter One: A Young Boy Develops Artistic Roots

and one of four children, foreshadowed the talent to come in the yet-to-be-born Reed. At the young age of 10, Rayburn joined the church where his love for music flourished. He became a member of a popular quartet that sang in numerous Christian church affairs, and as his talent matured, Rayburn often appeared on the local opera house stage. Rayburn was artistic as well and an inventive and mechanically-minded individual who, during his later years, came close to perfecting a centrifugal-powered gasoline motor engine. After returning home to Indiana, Delia corresponded with Rayburn, and a long-distance romance flourished quickly until, finally, in a letter postmarked September 15, 1913, Ray proposed marriage. It was one day short of a year later, on September 14, 1914, when they were married in Mr. Dillon’s large farmhouse home in Jasper. The newlyweds had already made plans to live in Newton and left Jasper shortly after the wedding ceremony. Upon their arrival back in Kansas, they moved in with Rayburn’s parents at 300 E. 9th Street, but, within a few short weeks, they returned to Jasper after Mr. Dillon contacted the couple and asked whether they would be willing to take over the farm. After some meditation, Rayburn and Delia decided to try and make a go of it. Their residence became a small log-cabin house, near Mr. Dillon’s larger house. While Rayburn worked the fields and took care of the livestock, Delia’s childhood years on the farm came to fruition as she raised the sheep, hogs, chickens, and turkeys, and, in her spare time, bottled maple syrup and canned vegetables from her garden. Everything they needed was raised or grown on the farm, except for cooking flour, for which Delia traveled to town when the need arose.

In the early days, the Crandall family managed to hold its own by enjoying what they had and living within their means. Their dog, a collie named “King,” and their horse, “Prince,” provided the children with playful diversions whenever the farm’s chores let up enough to allow the youngsters some free time. A nearby pond provided fresh water fishing for the family, which became an interest that the young Reed Crandall would enjoy for the rest of his life. In spite of the inevitable hardships of farm living, the farm provided the sanctuary, discipline, and country setting that instilled a sense of pride, love and respect for others into Reed and his siblings. It was here on the farm that Reed Jr. began drawing at the age of 4, even before he could utter complete sentences. His family was surprised at this natural talent that began to develop before Reed entered public school. He could scarcely reach the kitchen table when sitting on a chair, and yet his first pencil drawings were astounding to his parents and others. He drew animals, landscapes, and whatever else a small child of his age could observe from life on the farm and the

On August 12, 1915, their first child was born in their little house, whom they named Dillon, after the judge. After Reed was born in 1917, a sister, Ella Louise, followed on September 16, 1919, and the Crandall children now totaled three. Life on the farm was exciting and educational but hard.

Top right: Young Reed Crandall, around the age of sixteen, proudly displaying his art inspired by Howard Pyle. Above left: The three Crandall children, as identified on photo, circa early 1920s.

Chapter Two: The Cleveland School of Art

CHAPTER THREE

eed stayed at NEA through the fall of 1940, and then decided to head for New York City. Both he and Frank Borth knew that New York was the publishing capital of the world and, if one expected to break into the field of professional magazine illustration, this city held the key to a successful career. According to Borth, when Reed left for New York, he became the scout (so to speak) for himself as well as for Borth, to find work in the illustration field. Before leaving Cleveland, the two artists made an agreement: if Reed ran out of money in the Big Apple, he could count on Frank to send him some more until he was able to find work.

one in particular to show he had a good command of male anatomy and composition. This watercolor, depicting several acrobats performing gymnastics, could have appealed both to magazine or comic book editors. Reed’s plan was to become an illustrator of magazines and books, but if he had to draw comics for a period of time to get by, so be it; he knew the money was substantial, one way or the other. More than 55 years later, this gymnastics watercolor original surfaced in an internet auction. The seller had found it in a flat file in a New York City poster and art frame shop, recognized the name, and purchased it. That piece is reproduced in this book.

The boys had heard about the success of Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster, two Cleveland teenagers who, since 1935, had been promoting and trying to sell their “Superman” character idea as a newspaper comic strip. In early 1938, they finally made the sale to New York’s DC Comics, which put “The Man of Tomorrow” into the first issue of Action Comics. Within months, this new blue-and-red garbed super-hero had become the greatest hit in American comic books. By the time Reed was ready to leave Cleveland, super-heroes had become the hottest properties in comics, and he was certainly aware of the money then being made in this ever-growing new field of art. Preparing for the venture, Reed packed his portfolio with several examples of work that he had created at the school,

Upon arriving in the Big Apple by train, Reed began visiting various magazine publishers. As he soon discovered the illustration market was an overcrowded community, with a plethora of good artists already established to do the work. Even as early as 1940, the field of illustrative art was an endangered market and history has shown that it never recovered. With color photography gradually becoming more popular with both consumers and magazine editors, the demand for magazine illustration was on the decline. However, as is the case in many success stories, Lady Luck

Above: After settling into his first New York apartment, on 37th Street, in late 1940, 23-year-old Reed Crandall sent home this photo to his Newton relatives. Here he’s working on the first page of what is believed to be his first comic job, a five-page “Samar” story, published in Feature Comics #43, April 1941. Photographer unknown.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

one could have predicted or known that years later original comic art would gain substantial value and become a hobby for thousands of collectors around the world. During the 1940s, comic art was generally discarded or put into warehouse storage where it was sometimes damaged by the elements or eventually thrown out during irregular warehouse cleanings. Other originals were given away to friends or visitors who came through the offices, saw something they liked, and asked for it. For these and other reasons, some of Reed Crandall’s early originals have survived and are highly valued by today’s collectors.

throwing them in the trash after they were printed. He kept a large barrel in his offices specifically for that purpose. The reason behind this eccentricity was to prevent artwork from falling into the hands of anyone who might try to re-use it. He discontinued this practice in later years, and as luck would have it, a few pages of original art produced by Reed and other artists during the early 1940s did manage to escape his “busy” hands, so to speak. This early rescue of some of this ill-fated comic art was due to a few artists who were able to liberate the pages before Arnold got his hands on them. In other instances, to maintain a smooth transition from artist to artist, Arnold would give the art to an incoming artist who was taking over a feature from another as a means to help familiarize them with the style of what had been previously published. In those days, no

When Reed walked into the Iger shop with his samples, Jerry Iger was impressed and gave him a job right away. The shop protocol was generally to put an artist on a weekly salary,

Chapter Three: New York City Beckons

rather than paying for each piece of art created. Naturally, any artist put on salary was expected to turn out a certain amount of pages each week. Based on his samples, Iger started Reed at $20 per week. The work schedule was Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with weekends off. To ensure a good start on the new job, Reed took some of his assignments home to work on after hours, which wasn’t as much of a burden as it might seem since he didn’t really know many people in New York City and lacked the necessary money to spend on socializing. He worked at the apartment during the evening hours, listening to his radio, and getting ahead on those early assignments. With comic books, Reed found an entirely different world opening up to him and his talents. More importantly, it was steady employment that he could handle easily until something opened up in the illustration field. In the Iger shop, the artwork was drawn on large, two-ply sheets of white Strathmore paper, usually twice the size of the printed comic books, measuring about 13" x 18". This method of working on a piece larger than the final product, then photographically reducing the art down, had been employed for many years in the publishing business and made the artist’s task of putting in necessary detail that much easier. The process of reduction lent itself well for tightening up an artist’s renderings and, in some cases, gave it a more slick or professional appearance. Since the Iger Shop used the assembly-line method of production, various artists were assigned to different chores. Based on his samples, Iger saw that Reed was well-versed in human anatomy and could handle figure work well, a skill that some artists struggled with continuously and never mastered during their careers.

panel designs, following the flow of the script. Some artists had problems doing this type of layout, while others had a natural instinct for it. According to fellow Iger Shop artist Rudy Palais, Reed had a problem with laying out his stories when he first started at the shop. Judging from the earliest published work of Crandall, this may certainly be the case, in that he occasionally used too many distant panel scenes to tell a story. A story more balanced, using a variety of different angle shots, seen from both a distant and close-up perspective, helped keep readers more interested in what they were reading. Therefore, on some jobs, Reed was instructed

Part of the assembly-line method meant that certain artists there had the job of “breaking down” a story first for other artists to follow. That is, they drew border lines on the paper and laid out, in light pencil, a rough sketch for the

Previous page: At top are first issues of popular titles published by Quality Comics. Below is original art page portion of a “The Ray” story with pencils by Reed Crandall and inks by Rudy Palais, from Smash Comics #36, October 1942. Above: An example of an original art page coming from the Eisner & Iger Studio, this one the Captain Fight splash page, drawn by Art Saaf, measuring 13” x 18”, featured in Fight Comics #17 (Feb. ’42).

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

involved in the comic’s game since 1934, when he worked as an editor for Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson on New Fun Comics. By 1938, Jacquet was toiling for the Centaur line of comics under Joseph Hardie and, in 1939, Jacquet and several partners opened an “art shop” service of their own, operating out of a small office at 49 West 45th Street. Like the Iger shop, Jacquet also produced stories and art for various publishers, including Fawcett Publications, Gilberton, Hillman, Lev Gleason, Novelty, and the publications of Timely/ Marvel/Goodman. Due to space limitations, most of Jacquet’s artists worked off-site. History has recorded that this second issue of Captain America Comics was turned out on a short deadline schedule, which explains why other artists were brought in to help complete the assignment on time. This combined effort by different artists creates a style that is somewhat distorted beyond the typical look of a Simon and Kirby story produced during the 1940s. For many years now, the debate between comic book fans and collectors has grown when discussing Reed’s and other artists’ involvement on #2. For a long time there has been the misconception that Reed only inked certain panels or pages of this comic, but additional facts have surfaced over the years that disprove this belief. First and foremost was a visit that Wichita collector Robert Barrett had with Reed during the 1960s, when this very subject came up in conversation. Barrett’s account of speaking directly with the artist verifies that Reed told him he had done some penciling for Simon and Kirby on this book. He didn’t mention doing any inking on this job, but traces of Reed’s inking style can be clearly seen on certain panels as well. To back up this first-hand knowledge about Reed penciling part of this story, all one has to do is study the comic art of Reed Crandall from 1941 to the end of his life and one comes to recognize the figures, faces, forms, backgrounds, and other characteristics that

Reed. More than likely Reed heard about this job through other Iger shop artists who freelanced and may have already worked for Simon and Kirby. One other possible theory is that Reed acquired the job through another comic packaging outfit called Funnies Incorporated — also referred to as the Jacquet Shop — which provided art for other Timely titles besides Captain America. This establishment was managed by Lloyd Jacquet (pronounced shock-kay), a man who had been

Above: Captain America Comics #2, April 1941 featured some of Reed’s earliest work, assisting Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and others to help meet a pressing deadline. Next page: House ad for that issue.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

CHAPTER FOUR

Surviving in the Iger Shop

in between the two, was the Empire State Building in all its beauty. It was a magnificent view, and Reed hadn’t even noticed it. He was pretty much oblivious to those kinds of things.”

hen Frank Borth followed Reed to New York in January, 1941, to pursue his own career, he found Reed living in a small apartment located on the south side of West 37th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. “That was in the heart of the Hatbox District, just on the fringe of the clothing industry,” Borth said in an interview with this author. “It was similar to a brownstone, but rather, red brick. It was done with the same type of architecture where you walk half a flight up to the first floor and a half a flight down to the basement. Reed called it his ‘Fifth Avenue walk-up.’ You had to share the bathroom down the hall, and dinner was served in the basement area, where everybody else joined in. It was sort of like a boarding house environment. Every room had a fireplace in it. It’s an amazing thing, when I think back on it now. Here’s Reed, his first time in the big city of New York, walking down 37th Street, and he sees a sign that says ‘ROOM FOR RENT.’ So he rents this place and, when I arrived there, in early 1941, he put me up for awhile. There was a factory outside the windows and the women working across the way in the factory could see right into Reed’s apartment, because he had no curtains at the time. But the funny thing is that Reed’s window was flanked on each side by these other large buildings and, when I looked out that window, centered right

Borth continued, “Reed had a drawing board there in the apartment, but he was working in the bullpen at the time. These places like the Iger Shop had what they called the ‘bullpen,’ where everybody could sit and work together with their drawing tables. Reed could do it. I couldn’t stand it. But he could sit down anywhere and start to draw and it wouldn’t make any difference. He’d turn the stuff out like a machine. And he didn’t have to be concerned with what he was drawing. He had a photographic memory. He wouldn’t have to dig out any reference or do any homework. It used to drive me crazy. Superman was the first super-hero, but everything after that were all long-underwear characters. It didn’t make any difference to Reed what he drew.” Concluding, Borth said, “In some ways, I think this built-in modesty was his undoing. By that I mean he never really had to get out there and sell himself. All he had to do was show a sample of his work and any fool could see this kid really knew how to draw. And, if they didn’t have an opening on their staff, they’d sure as hell make one. And once they discovered how he could turn out the work, not only better, but faster and more consistently, and without any artistic temperament snits — in short, a reliable Left: Reed, Frank Borth, and Al Fagaly look over a comic script in the early 1940s. Next page: Hit Comics #18, dated December, 1941 featured one of Reed’s best Golden Age action covers and is the only cover he signed during the 1940s.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

It is interesting to note that, when he became the Great Defender, he suddenly sported a thin mustache. However, while working in the drugstore as Stormy Foster, his upper lip was bare. Presumably this addition of a mustache was sufficient enough to disguise his true identity, as no one, not even his close friends, caught on.

to have more of a positive impact on Reed’s reputation than any heroes he had worked on thus far. Doll Man had been Quality’s first and foremost super-hero, making his debut in Feature Comics #27, in December 1939. His origin story tells the tale of young scientist, Darrel Dane, as he develops and creates a potion that will shrink people to the size of a doll. Once he perfects this solution, he becomes a miniature crimefighter himself, measuring only five inches tall, who can shrink and return to normal size by sheer willpower alone. By working as an assistant to an older scientist by the name of Dr. Roberts, who is constantly experimenting with new secret ideas and inventions, some of which are government-sponsored, Dane comes into contact with spies, saboteurs, and other nefarious villains who are determined to undermine America. During the mid-1940s, this miniature whirlwind battled crime with the assistance of a large dog named Elmo.

Mac Elkan, an artist who hired into the Iger shop around the same time as Reed, provided the introductory story for Stormy Foster, in Hit #18, dated December 1941. Reed drew the cover depicting the red-white-&-blue hero fighting a group of Asians villains on a bridge high over the waters around Manhattan. This is Reed Crandall’s third cover for a comic book, and his first for Quality. It also has the distinction of being the only cover that the artist ever signed during the 1940s. Reed also provided Stormy Foster covers and interior artwork for Hit #23 and #24, dated respectively August and October of 1942. Another classic cover that he provided for #23, showing the hero slugging it out with Gestapo agents, remains a fan-favorite among Golden Age comic collectors today. Although not signed, it is a spectacular effort on Reed’s part, along with the nine-page story inside, and demonstrates the artist at the top of his form. This character proved to be one of Quality’s better secondary super-hero features and was carried in Hit Comics until issue #34, dated Winter 1944.

In the beginning, with stories provided by Will Eisner (under the house name of William Erwin Maxwell), and art by Lou Fine, this “Mighty Mite” proved himself to be one of the more formidable heroes in Quality’s lineup of characters. His costume was colorful, yet simple, with a blue, short-sleeved top and shorts, combined with a red cape and red boots. No mask covered his face and yet not even his fiancée, Martha — Dr. Roberts’ daughter — nor anyone else, recognized him as the diminutive dogooder. He finally let Martha in on his secret, in 1943, and even later, toward the end of the title’s run, she

Proving himself more than capable of handling these early assignments (and probably at Busy Arnold’s insistence), Reed was soon given one of the more important characters to draw. This new assignment would eventually prove

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

Most examples of this collaborative effort between Reed and Borth appeared during mid- to late 1941, through the Jacquet shop and in some of the jobs he did for Quality. For Jacquet, the boys worked together on a six-page story called “Pat Patriot — America’s Joan of Arc.” The story wound up in Daredevil Comics #2, dated August 1941, published by Lev Gleason Publications. This exploit presented the origin tale of a new female hero, which was signed “Chuck Woodro” on page one, a pseudonym for editor Charles Biro and writer Bob Wood. Typical of the comics industry in those days, Reed and Borth did the work while others got the credit.

Reed became so busy with requests coming in for his work that he could barely keep up. Luckily, Frank Borth was working close by and, when necessary, could take up the slack. This arrangement worked to the advantage of both men, as Borth remembered in his interview. “I did recognize the advantage I had where sometimes, once in awhile, somebody would call him up and want Reed to do six pages, or something like that,” he recalled. “And he would take them on. He’d say, ‘Okay, I’ll send somebody over there to pick up the script.’ So he’d send me over there to pick up the assignment and I’d wind up doing the thing, too. And he’d sort of look over my shoulder because, you know, and he’d say, ‘Nah, it’s got to be done a little bit this way or that way,’ and then I’d deliver it back to the publisher when finished.”

The plot of “Pat Patriot” centers on a woman by the name of Patricia Patrios. Patricia works in a defense factory by day and participates in amateur theatrical work during the evening hours. One evening, after leaving the playhouse and still wearing her patriotic red-white&-blue costume (complete with cape), she stumbles across a plot involving the smuggling of machine parts to the Axis

Above: Hit Comics #23 and #24, dated August and October, 1942, respectively, featured Stormy Foster. Right: Reed met and dated Martha Hamilton while at the Cleveland School of Art. In 1941, she came to New York to enter the business world of fashion art.

Chapter Four: Surviving in the Iger Shop

and was able to bring new and talented writers into the fold, including Emanuel Demby, Joseph Millard, Harry Stein, Manly Wade Wellman, and Bill Woolfolk. Unsurprisingly, as the scripts improved dramatically, the artists were more motivated to do a better job. Smash Comics had been around since August of 1939, featuring such notable characters as “Bozo the Robot,” “Espionage,” “Wings Wendall,” and “Abdul the Arab,” among others. It wasn’t until the fourteenth issue that a dynamic and exciting new super-hero called The Ray came along, which put Smash on the favorites list of most kids buying comics during the early 1940s. The Ray stood out from the normal super-hero fare offered by most companies, decked out from head to toe in a form-fitting, bright yellow costume that covered almost his entire body so tightly that it looked as though it had been applied with spray paint. His cowl, with a fin centered on top, was part of a long-sleeved, one-piece tunic with a starburst design for the collar. With his ability of flight depending on available light sources and the circumstances of each episode, The Ray was a lean, mean fighting machine, who had great strength and fought most of his battles with his bare fists. At times, he also employed a special high-powered “magneto ray” to help apprehend or control the gangsters and monsters he ultimately battled. His true identity was that of Happy Terrill, ace reporter for The Star newspaper and, early on in the series, he adopted a young sidekick by the name of Bud, who knew about Happy’s secret identity and wore a special “Ray” ring that reflected light toward his idol, usually just in time to help out. Hyped as the “new sensation of the comic magazines,” The Ray started out being drawn by the capable hands of Louis K. Fine, who provided nine

installments before Reed Crandall was assigned to take over. Fine, who had his own studio financed by Busy Arnold and was Quality’s highestpaid artist during the early 1940s, had a surgeon’s knowledge of human anatomy. Like Crandall, he also had desires of eventually breaking into the field of commercial illustration (where he would go after leaving comics). Highly

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

Early on at the shop, I started out doing breakdowns for various artists. Iger told me I had a knack for doing them. Some of the artists working there weren’t as proficient in breaking down a story, as they were in drawing it. I remember Crandall had some difficulty with laying out a story. He wasn’t using enough variety in his layouts; in other words, he was showing a lot of distant shots and not very many closeups. Iger assigned me to do his layouts for awhile. I’ll never forget when Reed came up to me and said something to the effect of, ‘Rudy, you don’t need to render the figures too heavily. Just put in a slight indication of what you want, and I’ll take care of it.’ And he was right. He sure didn’t need me trying to draw those figures, so why waste time.”

to Palais, other artists who worked on the early “Doll Man” stories besides Reed were John Belfi, Al Bryant, John Cassone, Chuck Cuidera, Tony Dipreta, Max Elkan, Lou Fine, Bob Fujitani, Will Eisner, George Tuska, and others.

Palais spoke very highly of Reed’s work in comics for the remainder of his life and took examples of Reed’s original comic pages with him upon leaving the Iger shop. In addition

In an interview conducted by this author in 2002, Fujitani remembered the following about Reed Crandall: “Usually an artist’s first love is to paint. When I went to the

Bob Fujitani, who signed most of his Golden Age work “Fuje,” was hired into the Eisner shop, in 1940, after his friend Tex Blaisdell asked him to bring samples to show to the shop’s boss. Blaisdell was already working there and was left in charge whenever Eisner was out of the office. Bob got the job and worked there for Eisner, if only for a few months before moving on to other comic companies, and he ultimately enjoyed a long career working in both comic books and in newspaper comic strip. During that time, he was exposed to some of the finest art being produced in comics, including the work of Reed Crandall, and Fujitani himself worked on the Doll Man character for awhile.

Above: Often, a skull or hooded skeleton figure added an element of suspense or horror at the beginning of a story. These reproductions of the same splash page from Smash Comics #27, October, 1941, show that element, and make a comparison. Next page: Splash, Smash Comics #27.

Chapter Four: Surviving in the Iger Shop

cars, furniture, weapons, or other human beings in the stories were always assured to be correct. Because of the detail required to draw Doll Man in his reduced size, Reed was not fond of drawing the character’s adventures. This became apparent later in Reed’s life, when he complained to this author about how he “damn near went blind drawing that tiny figure all the time, surrounded by giant objects.”

Even though Crandall grumbled about the “Doll Man” work, many comic historians and collectors of comic art are in agreement that Reed’s “Doll Man” series represents some of the best super-hero action figure work ever published in comics. As Jim Steranko wrote in his 1972 book, The Steranko History of Comics, Volume II, “Crandall unquestionably was the finest artistic talent to emerge from the world of comic illustration in the ’40s, and quite possibly the ’50s and the ’60s.” After Reed turned in his final penciled “Doll Man” story, for Feature Comics #63, dated December 1942, Rudy Palais took over the complete art chores on the character for several issues before being replaced by Al Bryant. Bryant’s style, albeit more heavy-handed with his inking technique, kept the look of Doll Man closely tuned to Reed’s style of art for several issues to come. The littlest super-hero at Quality Comics remained popular over the next decade, appearing in a total of 112 issues of Feature and 47 issues of his own Doll Man title, and finally retiring in October 1953. Eventually, Reed did return to the series after the war, but not before tackling a host of other jobs and characters.

decent living. It had welcomed him with open arms and had gained him respect and admiration from fellow workers. He had become part of a family of writers and other artists whom he respected and enjoyed working with. He got along very well with most of his peers, whether editors, writers, or artists. And, from 1941 to 1942, his work had just got better and better. Unfortunately, trouble was brewing on the homefront. His young bride was unhappy and beginning to grow impatient with a husband who seemed to show no interest in drawing anything other than comic books.

So far, the field had made it easy for Reed to earn a

Above: Unfinished and previously unpublished “Crimebuster” page from the files of Rudy Palais, penciled by Rudy and partially inked by Reed Crandall. Palais saved this for more than sixty years in his art collection and the page was from a job initially started for Boy Comics, in 1941.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

CHAPTER FIVE

Working for Busy Arnold

young artist, any motivation to go beyond comics just wasn’t there.

s Reed soon discovered, his wife, Martha, really was not very fond of the work he was doing in comic books. Almost from the beginning of their marriage, she believed that Reed was too good to be working in comics, an opinion shared by some of his friends and coworkers. She felt he should have been doing work of a higher caliber in the field of professional magazine and book illustration or advertising art.

At the Iger shop, Reed found himself working alongside many talented artists trying to make a living in the comics business, and one he befriended was freelancer Al Fagaly [1909–63]. Fagaly was a man with multiple talents who could handle straight comic art, as well as a more cartoony type of big-foot style. Adaptability was a great asset to have in the world of comics during the 1940s, and an artist who was flexible enough to handle different art styles was usually guaranteed more work than those more stylistically limited. Fagaly had been in the comics game for about two years when he and Reed met. At that time, he was supplying art for both the Iger shop and Lloyd Jacquet’s Funnies Incorporated. One of the Jacquet shop jobs that he had worked on was a super-hero called The Black Hood. This feature, supplied to MLJ Publications, eventually led him to working on a number of characters for that company, including one increasingly popular redheaded, freckle-faced teenager named Archie Andrews, who came along in late 1941, debuting in Pep Comics. Archie, with his girlfriends, Betty and Veronica, and good pal Jughead, became so popular that in 1943, the character was given its own radio show on NBC. Fagaly also worked on a number of features for Timely Publications, including “Captain America,” “The Human Torch,” and “The Whizzer.” He socialized with Reed and Frank Borth and, for a short time, dated Reed’s sister, Ella. Fagaly may have been the person who originally introduced

Since comic books were looked down upon as being somewhat juvenile in those days, Martha felt that her husband was wasting his time in a field where he would probably never gain much respect outside of his immediate peers. Reed, on the other hand, was enjoying his newfound popularity as being one of Busy Arnold’s favorite artists and receiving an income that had surpassed his initial expectations. No doubt, Reed also realized that a career in the illustration or advertising art scene would have been a tough road to travel, especially because since the late 1930s, that type of illustration was being phased out, being rapidly replaced by modern photography. Additionally, so many good artists already had a foothold in that market, and with constant deadlines staring Reed in the face, he would not have had much time to prepare samples, let alone, walk the streets of Manhattan looking for employment. He could not very well show comic book tearsheets in order to land that type of position. Thus, for the

Left: Eddie Robbins and Al Fagaly, seen here on the grass at a picnic on Long Island around 1942. Both were acquaintances of Crandall and Borth. Next page: Reed Crandall’s first cover for a comic book, Harvey’s Champ Comics #14, July, 1941.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

‘The Firebrand’ is very second rate, even with Reed handling the art work.

Above: Pages four and five from the first “Firebrand” story. Below: Lower two-thirds of page three depicts the first time Rod Reilly changes into the “Firebrand” and goes into action, courtesy of Reed Crandall.

Since Iger was paying most of his artists a weekly salary between $20–$25, he must have been upset with Arnold’s memo. The reduced payment policy would clearly cut a significant chunk out of Iger’s profit margin. By this time, after proving himself on various features, Reed had been raised from $20 to $30 a week, although Arnold had been told by Iger that Reed was earning $100 a week. Arnold was about to discover the truth of the matter, which would result in Iger losing one of his best artists in the shop. In the Iger Shop, Reed and Rudy Palais had worked together on several jobs for Quality Comics. In late 1941, Iger formed a partnership with Fred Fiore and produced Great Comics and Choice Comics under the publishing name of Great Publications. Rudy penciled and inked a 15-page story called “Futuro Kidnaps Hitler and Takes Him to Hades,” published in Great Comics #3, cover dated January 1942. This comic book, produced in September/October of 1941 — mere weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor — demonstrated America’s hope and belief about what should be the final fate of Adolph Hitler. Available on the newsstands before the nation’s involvement in World War II, its appeal was immediate to kids who bought it and read the story depicting

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

CHAPTER SIX

The Arrival of the Blackhawks

It was in Eisner’s Tudor City studio that one of the greatest groups of non-super-powered war heroes was born. This gang of stalwart pilots who, in the beginning wore snazzy black uniforms and flew against the Germans before the U.S. officially entered the war, made their debut in the first issue of Military Comics dated August, 1941. These brave commandos of the air, swearing “a mission of justice and death,” were dubbed The Blackhawks, and their adventures began under the watchful eyes of Eisner and two of his top artists, Charles “Chuck” Cuidera and Bob Powell. Cuidera, a budding young talent in the comic game, and a man who later became one of Reed’s closest friends, drew the first story for Military. Charles Nicholas Cuidera was born on September 23, 1915, in Newark, New Jersey, and he spent twenty-five years working in comics industry. Cuidera was first interviewed by this author in 1982 when he recalled some of those early experiences of working in the comic’s field. “I think the talent I have really came from my mother,” he revealed. “She was exquisite in terms of taste. She was a dress designer. We were the best-dressed kids on the block! I’m not ashamed to say this but, during the tough times when things were bad, she would redo my brother’s suits to fit me. We were a large family, [with] thirteen children. When I was in grammar school I used to copy the Sunday funnies. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan was one of my favorites. Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant was another. One of the teachers their urged me to go to the Fawcett Art School. It was an art school for talented kids.”

n the summer of 1940, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, giving the United States of America the right to induct eligible men into the armed services without waiting for any to volunteer. The draft, as the act came to be informally known, went into effect in October of that year, requiring all males aged 21 to 36 to register at their local draft boards. A war was raging in Europe, and American industry, already supplying the British in their fight against Germany, was anticipating U.S. entry into the spreading conflict and building an arsenal. Busy Arnold knew it was only a matter of time before the country would be pulled into the war against the Nazis, and he would soon be short of many in his staff of young, talented — and virtually all male — writers and artists. Arnold instructed his top man, Will Eisner (who was 23 at the time) to begin getting the artists ahead on their work. In general, the comic book industry was gearing up as well. Even before December 7, 1941, many publishers had started championing the war effort overseas. Some of them started introducing new titles or changing old ones in an effort to make anti-fascist themes a focal point of interest. The proprietor of Quality Comics was about to do the same.

Above: Detail of Blackhawk from the cover of Military Comics #20, dated July, 1943. The anti-fascist aviator hero, leader of an entire squadron of flying freedom fighters, was enormously popular in the 1940s. Next page: Reed’s first Blackhawk cover, Military Comics #13, November, 1942, presented a spectacular scene of the seven team members, collectively called the Blackhawks, advancing toward the reader.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

The artist continued, “How I got involved with comics was some guy wrote me a letter, and I don’t know where he got my address from. He wanted me to do a job called ‘The Claw.’ I did the artwork for it and I never got paid. The guy promised me the sun and the moon. I did this on speculation. I was very gullible. I went into New York and I delivered the job at this address, and the guy wasn’t there. And the girl at the front desk tells me to leave it and says, ‘You’ll be getting your check in the mail.’ And to this day… you know, I’m still waiting. My father didn’t like me doing this type of thing… you know, staying up until the wee hours of the morning, leaning over an art table. He said, ‘Why don’t you be like your sister, go to the Board of Education and get a job as an art teacher?’ And I said, No way!’”

produced Captain America for Goodman. Charlie Biro came in at Fox just before I left there and he did a couple of ‘The Flame’ jobs, and they stunk. He was out for the buck. And the guy that took over on ‘The Blue Beetle’ after I left was a guy by the name of Al Carreno. Nice guy. We used to chat quite a bit. He was older than I was and I thought he was pretty good too. I left around the time that Bob Powell and Charlie Mazoujian called me and told me that Will Eisner and Mr. Arnold liked my stuff. And they doubled my salary!” Cuidera concluded, “So that’s how I wound up over there. I was originally hired by Eisner to do backgrounds on his Spirit strip. Bob Powell was in charge whenever Eisner was gone, until he asked Eisner for a raise. That’s when he did an about-face. So, one time, Eisner was down in Georgia on a hunting trip. He was gone for one or two weeks and, by the time he got back, I had three or four pages completed already on the first ‘Blackhawk’ story. We wrote it ourselves, Bob and I. I drew the eleven-page story inside and, when Will came back, he inked right over my pencils that I had done for the cover. That was Military Comics #1, dated August 1941. I remember that when I completed the first ‘Blackhawk’ story (or when I was almost three-quarters of the way through), Eisner came back with the argument that I had made the uniform too much like the Nazis. I told him I did it on purpose because it was a smartlooking outfit. The only guy who did some of the backgrounds for me after that was Alex Kotzky. That’s what he started on there.

Thereafter, the artist went to visit Victor Fox, self-declared “King of the Comics” and owner of Fox Features. Cuidera explained, “Fox lived in the Bolidatist Hotel. I know because I delivered some liquor to him there one day. He was a little short Jewish guy. He owned Fox Features where Simon and Kirby, and I worked. Al Harvey was the editor and Joe Simon was the art director. I remember old man Fox… he was a stingy guy, you know. I had to do a cover and finish it the same day. I did a lot of the covers for Blue Beetle. The Flame was another one… Secret Agent X-9, Yank Wilson and a couple more characters. I can’t remember them all. Jack Kirby was doing [Cosmic] Carson. After that he and Joe

Chuck Cuidera

Top: Military Comics #1, August, 1941, designed by Will Eisner and finished by Chuck Cuidera, the first Blackhawk artist, before handing the chores over to Reed. Above: Photo of Chuck, sent to a fan around 1942, taken while serving his country. His highest rank was Air Force captain.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

didn’t work in Eisner’s studio like me; he worked at home at the time. He came in because of that Blackhawk story in Military Comics #12, which I didn’t complete, just before I left for the service. Reed started on Military Comics #12 and I did the cover. I also did most of the story inside. I used to jump around from panel to panel and in no particular order, when I penciled this stuff. Reed was the fastest penciler of any us guys in the shop. He could turn out three pages in the time it took me to do one. Amazing!”

began to warm up, Reed found himself with a full plate, producing some of the finest work of his career, turning out “The Ray,” for Smash Comics; “Stormy Foster,” for Hit Comics; and “The Doll Man,” for Feature Comics. Now he was ready to tackle something different, and in many ways, more complicated than anything he had done thus far. In 1982, during an interview with this author, Cuidera recalled the transition period when he was leaving for the Army and Crandall was arriving to take over the “Blackhawk” feature in Military Comics. He said, “I met Reed through Busy Arnold. He came in one day and I met him for the first time. I had seen his work and I knew what he could do. He

With Cuidera’s departure for military duty, Reed took over the Blackhawk episode that Chuck had laid out and partially penciled. Reed added some additional penciling to the splash page and various other

This page: Pages and single panel from Reed’s first Blackhawk story in Military Comics #12 (on which Chuck Cuidera and Alex Kotzky worked on, as well) that introduced the beautiful spy Xanukhara to comic readers. Next page: Original cover art by Reed, Military Comics #15, January, 1943.

Chapter Six: The Arrival of the Blackhawks

beautiful, and sensual, could quickly turn into a wide-eyed, open-mouthed, screaming, maniacal woman whenever the script called for it. Blackhawk met some of these abrasive women during his exploits in the comics but, generally, even those types would fall for his rugged good looks and heroic acts of daring by the end of any given story. Military Comics #14 got even better as Crandall produced a classic splash page showing a giant red devil holding a mysterious “girl of the East” in his hand for the story titled “Tondeleyo.” The adventure and characters have similarities to the movie White Cargo, which had been released by MGM that same year and starred the beautiful Hedy Lamarr. The ravishing titular brunette is adorned in a sarong and wears a white rose in her hair. Tondeleyo represents the personification of evil and fear among men. In this story, the Blackhawks throw down a challenge for air combat with a squadron of top Nazi aces resulting in numerous panels filled with aerial combat. Reed drew more than 110 airplanes spread throughout this story, including a spectacular choreographed, three-panel full-page sequence, featuring 42 planes, diving, turning, and dog-fighting with one another in the clouds. Tondeleyo is seen throughout the story, sensuous and titillating, while creating fear among the group of aviators. Toward the end, Blackhawk realizes that she represents evil and tells her to get out, just as a Nazi bomber comes crashing down out of the sky and kills her. In the final panel, the narrator tells us “This story has no beginning and no end… it is as timeless as the mind of man.”

They create trouble and terror for the Blackhawks at every turn. The third witch, Mystery, keeps her face hidden in the shadows during the story and actually helps Blackhawk escape death on three separate occasions as he and his cohorts search for a lost battalion of Scottish Highlanders in India. As the final panels reveal to readers only (Blackhawk himself doesn’t find out) the witch called Mystery is a Nipponese girl… “her country’s Mata Hari, who betrayed her race,” one who has fallen in love with the freedom fighter. She reveals her true identity and feelings in the last panel, as she holds her head in her hands sobbing… “East is East — West is West. Oh Blackhawk….”

One of the most memorable Blackhawk stories was titled “Men Who Never Came Back,” from Military #15, dated January 1943, where three witches appear on the splash page and each page of the 15-page story, introducing themselves as Trouble, Terror, and Mystery. In appearance, Trouble and Terror are classic old witches who spread their wicked cauldron brew throughout the panels using a large spoon.

Previous page: “The Butcher” was Reed’s first Blackhawk story dealing with Baron Von Tepp, Hitler’s most brutal henchman. Sixteen pages makes it the longest Blackhawk story ever drawn in the Golden Age and it appeared in Military Comics #13, November, 1942. This page: Beginning with Military #13, writer William Woolfolk joined the team to provide better stories, including this one, for #14, December, 1942, called “Tondeleyo.”

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

CHAPTER SEVEN

Faces, Forms, and Figures

own. His posturing, faces, figures, hands, feet, hairstyles, animals, drapery, trees, and shadows all became identifiable and distinctive trademarks of a “Reed Crandall job.” There was nothing else quite like it in comics and no mistaking his work when one saw it. Unless another artist had flat-out swiped one of his figures or an image of some kind from one of his stories (which did happen often), one knew it was his work.

uring the 1940s, hundreds of artists toiled in the comics field, each producing their own brand of storytelling and comic panel art. Some of their work appeared detailed and smooth in their approach to drawing and inking, while others followed a more crude or simple path of rendering images. Most artists, whether liked or disliked by the public, had a recognizable style of art with which readers identified and remembered from issue to issue, or company to company (depending on how frequently that artist moved around to other publishers).

Unfortunately, during the 1940s, most people never realized who Reed Crandall was because he almost never signed his art. What they did know — and came to respect — was that this particular artist had an aesthetic quality of realism that many artists could not capture. His figure-work was so precise that it nearly always portrayed a true element of gravity and weight, with reflected shadows from the figures, objects, or backgrounds he was drawing. Faces were usually handsome or pretty, unless the script specifically called for something less. Reed drew comics like filmmakers made movies. The more difficult the angle, the more challenged Reed was to create it. In spite of how fast Reed was able to turn

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby became well known for an over-exaggerated, in-your-face form of energetic art that jumped and leaped almost three-dimensionally off the pages of any story or cover they produced. Lou Fine became one of the most respected names in comics for his fine-line detail, fluid renderings of figures, and ability to draw unusual faces. From almost the very beginning, Crandall’s work in the industry had characteristics that were unmistakably his

Above: Will Eisner brought one of the great American icons to four-color comics by introducing Uncle Sam in July, 1940, in the first issue of National Comics. Reed’s first story from National #25, October, 1942, pits Uncle Sam and his boy sidekick, Buddy, up against Nazi saboteurs who plan to blow up the Panama Canal. Next page: One of Reed’s most famous patriotic covers showed up on National Comics #26, November, 1942.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

During the early 1940s, a young artist by the name of Carmine Infantino was hired by Quality to do clean-up work on comic pages coming into the Eisner studio. Infantino eventually went on to become one of DCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most important artists between the 1950s and 1960s, eventually rising to become the publisher and president of the company. In an interview conducted by longtime collector Bob Koppany, in 1996, and published in the Comic and Fantasy Art Amateur Press Association publication, Mr. Infantino recalled his appreciation of Crandallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work:

After Blackhawk, another important comic book character with which Reed soon became associated during this time frame was Uncle Sam. This great symbolic figure had first come to prominence during the War of 1812 and, by the 1940s, was an established American icon. He was thrust into the arena of political humor, in 1852, when artist Frank Bellew defined him visually in a cartoon for the New York Lantern newspaper. Later, artists such as Thomas Nast and James Montgomery Flag further refined this patriotic representation into the tall, white-haired, bearded figure adorned in red-white-&-blue, with top hat, who became so easily identifiable and well-known all over the world. Will Eisner brought Uncle Sam to the comics in July of 1940, giving him the super-strength ability to leap great distances and battle his foes whenever the need arose. Quite appropriately, his power was derived from the millions of Americans who believed in the spirit of the United States. This stately character made his debut in National Comics #1, dated July 1940 and, from the beginning, Eisner teamed Uncle Sam up with a young boy sidekick named Buddy, who had become fatherless in the debut tale.

Crandall was another one. I adored his work. In the summer, I got a job at Quality Comics, which is where Crandall and Lou Fine and that whole ilk were. I had a job erasing pages, whiting out around borders, and filling in blacks. I got a quarter a page for that, all summer long. I rubbed my fingers to the bone. But it was a good experience. I saw the originals of Crandall and Lou Fine come in, Will Eisner, and all kinds of wonderful artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work. I learned a lot just by looking at the stuff. Crandall would mail his stuff in.

This page: Reed Crandall took American patriotism a step higher in the comics with covers like these, National Comics #30 and #31, dated March and April, 1943, respectively. Next page: Two-page spread from Uncle Sam Quarterly #5, Winter, 1942, drawn by Reed, while the rest of the story was illustrated by Al Gabriele. The image on the left is from the printed comic book while the right shows the original artwork. The latter was found with two other pieces underneath a coffee table at a Long Island estate sale. Below right is detail of National Comics #32 cover, May, 1943.

Chapter Seven: Faces, Forms, and Figures

The scene is simple, very poster-like, and depicts Uncle Sam standing erect, looking straight out toward the reader, with jacket and hat off, rolling up his sleeve. His mood is solemn, his face grim and determined. Buddy stands beside the colorful figure, smiling and wearing Uncle Sam’s tophat and holding his jacket. There is no background clutter, nothing to distract the eye, just a pure white background, with simple lettering running above the figures and making the announcement: “They asked for it and Uncle Sam is going to give it to them!” And what a cover it is! It is pure comics, pure patriotism, and pure Crandall in its finest form.

Together (and appropriately), Buddy and Uncle Sam took an idealistic approach to fighting the enemies of America. Reed was the third artist to work on the series following Lou Fine, who had taken over after Eisner’s departure as initial delineator. Crandall’s first contribution to the character appeared on the cover of National #24, dated August 1942, depicting Uncle Sam and Buddy on top of the Statue of Liberty fighting Nazis. The following issue would again showcase Crandall’s work on the cover and feature his first interior “Uncle Sam” work. The cover depiction for this issue is one of the more patriotic covers produced for this series, showing full-figure soldiers from every branch of the service, marching behind Uncle Sam and Buddy, headed straight toward the reader. The cover blurb states, “America Marches to Victory behind Uncle Sam.” A “Buy War Bonds” advertisement is seen in the upper right corner letting readers know how they, too, could help support this great cause.

Inside the book, Reed drew a nine-page story involving a Nazi plot to infiltrate U.S. oil refineries with spy-chemists who are out to sabotage the country’s supply of

As in most entertainment media at the time, patriotism and support for the war was promoted throughout the comic book publishing world from 1940 to 1946, and Quality Comics made sure they were right in the thick of it. Reed’s next cover, seen on issue #26 (November 1942) would become even more famous than all the others he created. Today, it is identified by comic historians as a “classic” piece of comic art, and one of the most patriotic covers of World War II.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

CHAPTER NINE

Big Changes on the Horizon

rank Borth was released from military duty on February 15, 1946. He and his wife, Bobby, who had been living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, returned to New York and rented a place on the furthest eastern tip of Long Island, in the town of Montauk. When Borth went to see the folks at Quality Comics to get his old job back drawing the “Spider Widow” stories, he was told in so many words “Sorry, but we can’t give everybody their old job back. There’s just too many G.I.s returning.” Within a few days, Borth began developing a daily adventure newspaper strip, which at that time, was a most lucrative market to enter. Already legendary were the success stories about the incomes of well-known cartoonists, such as Al Capp, Roy Crane, Milton Caniff, and others who had become extremely wealthy from their properties being syndicated in newspapers throughout the U.S. Borth called his new strip Ken Stuart, an educational adventure strip about sailing and boating on the high seas. (The lead character was actually named after a real person living in the artist’s coastal town). Toward the end of 1946, Borth was notified by his agent that the strip had been bought by the Jay Kay Markey Syndicate. He immediately set to work to get ahead on the project. In those days, most syndicated artists tried to stay ahead of their publishing dates by at least three months. That way, if an artist did encounter a major medical problem or accident of some kind that put him out of commission for a week, or two, or three, it would not create an immediate problem with the strip appearing daily. In order to give the feature the kind of authentic realism he wanted, and to make sure everything was correct, Frank made a trip to the local dock to photograph a friend’s boat from stem to stern. The new strip debuted in early 1947 with the hopes that circulation would soon begin to build up and turn into a moneymaker for the Borths.

decided to let him tackle “Captain Triumph,” a popular super-hero feature appearing regularly in Crack Comics. This character was unique, in some respects, compared to the other super-heroes owned by Quality. Captain Triumph was actually the joint identity of twin brothers (one alive, the other deceased), a secret that was always shared with the readers at the beginning of each story. This ruse was that when brother Lance (the mortal one) rubbed a strange birthmark on his wrist, his brother Michael (the departed) would then merge with Lance, and they become an invincible warrior known as Captain Triumph. His purpose was to fight against crime and injustice threatened by a throng of different criminals

Meanwhile, at the Quality Publishing Company, the Blackhawk and Doll Man stories and covers were not enough to keep Reed busy full-time. Quality’s editor, George Brenner,

This page: Photo of one sharply dressed Reed Crandall, taken around 1947. Next page: Reed began working on the Captain Triumph feature with Crack Comics, starting with #47, March, 1947, and he took over the cover chores from artist Al Bryant with the following issue. This iconic Crandall cover is from Crack #54, May, 1947.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

and enemies. Michael, being the disembodied spirit and thus able to eavesdrop on suspicious characters without being seen, would then tip off his sibling to any nefarious plotting of evil shenanigans. Adorned in a simple costume, with red T-shirt, white riding pants, and brown boots, the popular blonde haired Captain — drawn by a number of artists — lasted from 1943 until 1949. Reed began working on Captain Triumph during the spring of 1947, providing covers and 13- to 15-page stories for each issue. Most of these stories and some of the covers were inked by another one of Quality’s star inkers, Robin King. King had been at Quality since 1940, working mostly on the “Blackhawk” and “Captain Triumph” features. Reed’s contributions were seen in Crack Comics #48 through #61, as well as on many of the covers. Per an agreement with Arnold, Reed was allowed to ink some of these himself. Occasionally, he took on other

cover assignments too, such as the one he drew for The Spirit #11, dated spring of 1948. This cover depicts the famous crime-fighter shackled to a wall, with a villainous thug getting ready to explode dynamite at his feet. It was another cover that did not need to relate to anything inside the comic; it only needed to convey a sense of suspense and intrigue to the potential reader or buyer. Reed’s covers always succeeded in doing that. It was during the fall of 1947 that Reed came to visit Frank Borth, in Montauk, where he was working diligently turning out six daily strips of Ken Stuart each week and contemplating a Sunday page. The visitor soon confessed to Frank that he was having big problems on the homefront: Reed and Martha were still living together, but married life was not going well. She still adamantly wanted him out of the comic book business and relentlessly badgered him about it. Further, she did not like it when he delivered his finished jobs into

Top: Reed elected not to put any background details on these covers for Crack Comics #49 and #52. Perhaps the totally white backgrounds made these issues stand out better on the comic racks. Above inset: Cover detail from Crack Comics #53, dated March, 1948.

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Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

establishment, according to Cuidera, and a good place to get a sandwich or burger. During these sojourns, Cuidera also soon learned that Reed was not a happy man due to domestic discord with Martha. And things were only getting worse.

When Arnold started his line of romance comics, Cuidera penciled and inked a number of stories and covers by himself. Because of his Pratt Institute training in layout and design, at times he also was involved with the final design and logo paste-up work on covers and splash pages. Reed and Chuck often went to lunch together or for drinks after work at the Seymore Cafe, located right across the street from the company. This cafe was Busy Arnold’s favorite drinking

Shortly after Reed’s Montauk visit with Borth, Cuidera received an urgent phone call from Reed. He and Martha were splitting up and Reed needed to get out of Huntington Beach right away. Cuidera dropped what he was doing and drove his black Mercury convertible out to Long Island and loaded up

This page: At top is Frank Borth in his Montauk, Long Island, studio around 1948 working on his syndicated educational-adventure daily newspaper feature, Ken Stuart. The comic strip ran from 1947 to 1950 and was distributed by the Frank Jay Markey Syndicate. Above left is an original daily strip, and, above right, the Ken Stuart one-shot reprint comic book, Publication Enterprises, 1949. Next page: Quartet of Modern Comics covers.

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including Candy, Marmaduke Mouse, and Eggbert.

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

CHAPTER TEN

Public Taste Keeps Changing

Since figure work had always been Reed’s forte, drawing romance stories proved a breeze. Unfortunately, these types of stories may have constantly reminded him of his own failed marriage, or, looking at it from an artistic standpoint, perhaps just did not create any new challenges for the seasoned professional. The positioning of men and women in repetitive scenes of talking, caressing, or kissing was easy work for Crandall but, more than likely, became boring for an artist of his caliber. With his acknowledged photographic memory, he could practically pencil the drawings blindfolded. Surprising, though Reed had already drawn every possible imaginable position or angle of a figure and put it on paper a thousand times over, his pencils and layouts became less than inspired. Unfortunately, other less-talented artists were assigned to ink these stories. Bill Ward, who had previously filled in for Reed on “Blackhawk,” wound up inking many of these stories and, on his own, produced some of Quality’s finest romance covers and stories over the next five years. It wasn’t long before Reed’s art began to show signs of boredom with a repeated assembly-line style of figures and fashions. Because of this monotonous process, his figure-work and compositions

ostwar Blackhawk comic sales were down a little, compared to previous years, but still making enough money to keep Busy Arnold satisfied. Modern Comics, however, which ran a single Blackhawk story at the lead and thereafter filled out the rest of the title with humorous characters, such as Torchy, Dogtag, Ezra, and Will Bragg, was not selling well enough, and in October of 1950, the monthly was cancelled with #102. New areas of interest to publishers during these times of declining sales were crime, horror, war, and Western frontier comics, among others. Another new avenue that publishers were venturing into, by late 1949, was romance comics. The artist team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby had started the love genre with Young Romance, debuting from Prize Publications, in late 1947. Arnold was soon ready to take the plunge with his own titles, such as Love Diary (renamed Diary Loves with #2), Flaming Love, Hollywood Secrets, Love Confessions, Love Letters, and others. During the fall of 1949, Reed was assigned to start working on several of these new comics and, as the stories began to appear in print, one could easily see that the artist was right at home.

This page: In December 1950, Police Comics eliminated Jack Cole’s Plastic Man after 102 issues as crime stories were becoming popular. Reed Crandall fit right in with this and other emerging genres, as evidenced by this two-fisted cover for Police Comics #118 , August, 1952, shows. Next page: Buccaneers’ Captain Daring boasted Reed’s Howard Pyle-inspired tales of piracy and nautical adventure. Buccaneers #21 cover, May, 1950.

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were also under careful scrutiny while Reed worked on the series but, because sales never quite reached the required level needed, Hit Comics was cancelled with #65, dated July 1950, leaving two stories unpublished. Since Arnold was not a man to waste anything, Reed’s last two “Jeb Rivers” jobs showed up months later, in Police Comics #101 and 102.

crooked gamblers and waterfront bushwhackers, who, due to their underhanded ways, constantly affront our hero or other passengers. Right from the start of “Jeb Rivers,” Reed Crandall took on the task of capturing the flavor and scenery surrounding those great days of the old Mississippi River, when “America’s father of waters knew excitement in every ripple.” Just the detail of the old riverboats alone would have made most comic artists turn tail and run in the other direction, but not Reed, who dug in with pencil and ink and made the series one of the most realistic adventures he had ever committed to paper. No detail was spared as Crandall sweated over the exteriors and interiors of the old paddlewheeled, double-stacked, steam-powered vessels, right down to the intricately wood-carved ceilings and oil-burning lamps. Clothing, fashions, and weaponry

Even before the riverboats ran out of steam in Hit Comics, Quality had decided it was time to retire the Kid Eternity title, as well. Joe Millard, considered as one of Arnold’s best writers, had suggested a new series and, with Arnold’s approval, the scribe was already busy typing out the scripts. Right away, Reed was put to work on this new series, which, like the Western and riverboat stories, again stimulated his interest. Without missing a beat on the numbering system, Kid Eternity became Buccaneers, with issue #19, dated January 1950. The comic’s subtitle announced what Buccaneers

This and next page: Hit Comics #61 (November, 1949) launched a new handsome, adventure hero known as Jeb Rivers. On this spread are splash pages and covers starring this pre-Civil War feature, including original cover art for Hit Comics #62 and #63, from January and March of 1950.

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nine issues, the comic was cancelled, ending in May of 1951. Reedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s final cover for Buccaneers was a classic scene of swordfighting between Captain Daring and the villainous prince of pirates, Captain Foxx! Busy Arnold must have been banging his head against the office wall trying to figure out why these new books and ideas were not hits. Even with one of his best writers scripting the exploits and his favorite artist providing the art, the top-notch books had failed to catch on with the buying public. He must have realized that television viewing was on the rise with youngsters and the new medium was beginning to take a bite out of his profits and other comic publishers at that time. Arnoldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next attempt had to click! He needed a hit. Crime comics had been selling well since 1942, when publisher Lev Gleason introduced Crime Does Not Pay to a welcoming readership. Gleason staffers Charles Biro and Bob Wood had become fairly well-known in the publishing business as the editor and artist, respectively, who started the genre, and they lined their pockets with enviable profits from the outset. In 1948, they added Crime and Punishment to their line-up and earnings rose steadily. For reasons unknown, Arnold had stayed out of the crime field for many years, This page: Three excellent covers for Buccaneers, a title which presented swashbuckling stories of piracy in 1951. Next page: Reed penciled and inked this final cover for Buccaneers #27 (May, 1951).

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Way of All Good Things

a hard time about doing it. This bad karma between the two may have started years earlier in the Iger shop, since they both had worked there at around the same time. At this late date, because the money was decent and steady, they apparently put up with each other’s little quirks.

or reasons not entirely clear to this day, Busy Arnold fired editor Harry Stein, in the spring of 1950. With Stein’s departure, Al Grenet [1915-2006] was promoted to become the new editor at Quality Comics. Grenet had been a manager for Jerry Iger’s comic shop during the early 1940s, when he had acquired plenty of experience as an artist who could handle artwork, lettering, and production paste-up work. In 1946, Arnold hired Grenet to become part of his production support staff. This jack-of-all-trades position included creating title logo designs and penciling covers for various romance and funny animal titles. He also worked on backgrounds and helped out with color schemes for stories and covers when needed. In brief, he did anything required to get the books out on time. Unfortunately, Grenet and Reed Crandall did not always get along. Sometimes, after Grenet had read and approved a script, Reed would change the script slightly by drawing a splash page different than what was requested . Grenet resented the artist taking such liberties and criticized him for it, which did not sit well with Reed, who thought he had improved the story’s visuals. If Grenet asked Reed to make any changes, the artist would ignore him or give him

Horror stories in the comics had been around since the mid-1930s and, thus far, Busy Arnold had shied away from getting involved with them on a grand scale. One of Reed’s earliest jobs for the publisher containing horror elements had been “The Old Witch” tale, presented back in Hit Comics #10, dated April 1941. Now, six years later, the artist was given a chance to provide one of Quality’s better horrorific cover ideas for Crack Comics #51, dated November 1947, one depicting a snarling werewolf sneaking up behind title headliner Captain Triumph. A 15-page story by Reed inside that issue had the hero battling the creature, as well. Historically speaking, Crack #51 boasted Reed’s first horror cover for Quality and one that surely grabbed the attention of young readers who followed the title. As more publishers began to produce horror comics and sales reports became known by Arnold, the publisher knew he could not

This page: By the time horror comic book sales were rising, Reed hadn’t worked on the Doll Man covers or stories for several years when, in 1952, he was assigned this terror-inspired cover art for Doll Man #40 depicting the Mighty Mite and Doll Girl under spider attack. Next page: War was another big genre of the day and Reed contributed this cover art for the first issue of G.I. Combat (October, 1952), which is a certified classic.

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ignore the genre much longer. By late 1951, he was ready to begin injecting a few elements of horror onto the covers of some of his titles. Naturally, he called on his favorite cover artist to help visualize this new element. Reed’s first contribution to Quality’s horror movement showed up on the cover of Ken Shannon #3, dated February 1952. This grand illustration shows the titular detective at the steering wheel of his car, driving at night toward a decomposed corpse standing in the roadway. A cemetery and an old house loom in the background as rain pours down. This scene actually appears inside the comic, in a 10-page story drawn by Reed called “The Corpse That Wouldn’t Sleep.” Reed did another horror cover for the sixth issue of that title showing a vampire, complete with hat and cape, getting ready to put the bite on the two-fisted character’s girl Friday, Dee Dee Dawson. Alas, it turns out that the vampire is no supernatural blood-sucker after all, but rather an actor playing Dracula on the stage in the 10-page crime story titled “The Vampire Mob.” Issue #7, dated October 1952, shows a freakish, deformed, monstrous-looking creature grabbing a woman from behind and choking her. As the reader soon This page: For Crack Comics #51, November, 1947, Reed provided cover and story, a tale pitting Captain Triumph against a murderous werewolf. Soon, Quality would inject more horror into their titles.

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learns in the story, titled “The Ugliest Man in the World,” also drawn by Reed, a deformed-looking man is beaten up so badly by gangsters that it disfigures his face and damages his brain. This is the type of half-hearted horror that Quality was putting into their comics in their attempt to capitalize on the horror craze then exploding within the comics industry. To Reed’s chagrin, Arnold’s horror fixation soon brought the artist back into contact with the super-hero he had first drawn for Quality in the early 1940s, during the war, and of whom he was not very fond of drawing… Doll Man! Reed drew the cover of Doll Man #40, dated June 1952, depicting the six-inch “Mighty Mite” being chased by a giant spider. The nefarious eight-legged creature was not even featured inside the comic, but it must have had a chilling effect on readers who saw it as they were enticed to buy the book. His next cover, presented on Doll Man #41, no doubt was more to Reed’s liking as it offered the opportunity to draw one of his favorite animals again, a horse (albeit with a headless horseman in the saddle) riding at full gallop, with Doll Man looking on and, off to the side, a screaming woman. The story inside, not drawn by Reed, reveals that it’s only a criminal in costume, trying to scare people away from his hidden loot stashed in a park. A third and final Doll Man cover by Crandall during this period turned out to be one of his finest, and his last for the series. Issue #42, dated October 1952 has Doll Man standing before a giant, grisly-looking monster, which the cover blurb refers to as the “Mind Monster.” Reed’s depiction of the monstrosity is about ten times more hairy and grotesquelooking than the character featured in the story inside, which is drawn by another artist. Whether or not Reed took such liberties with these cover assignments or was told to exaggerate the elements beyond the story itself is not known, though exaggeration was often encouraged by the editors. Reed drew no interiors for these later Doll Man comics and the title came to an end in October, 1953, with its 47th issue. These types of covers served their purpose and were popular with the kids who were following the books. It would be another year before Arnold would really get serious about horror and launch the bi-monthly horror title Web of Evil. In the meantime, it was the busiest of times for Reed Crandall, who glided through it all with a smooth technique that made the work look all so easy. Another new title that Quality created and with which Reed was immediately involved was G.I. Combat. The Korean conflict had begun in June of 1950, and comics featuring This page: Two more examples of horror finding its way into existing Quality titles. Covers for Ken Shannon #3 and #7 offered an advance look at what was to come at EC Comics from the artist.

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wrong. He forced this attitude on me, to a certain extent, and I put up with some of it. But when he tried it on the boss, he got canned. I think he was tired of working there anyway. He had been there for a long time and probably just wanted to move on to something new. Other artists took over after Reed left, but Blackhawk was never the same.” It was the spring of 1953, when Crandall exited the outfit, and even though some comic historians continue to believe that the artist worked for Quality as late as 1956, he did not. Part of this mistaken impression is based on some of Reed’s romance and war stories being reprinted by Quality as late as that year. Confusing events even more is the fact that several of Arnold’s artists were “swiping,” or reusing figures and faces from Reed’s earlier Quality work, years after he had left the company. In most instances, the artists using these swipes were simply trying to enhance their own work or perhaps meet a deadline. In the fast-paced world of comic-book production, it was (and still is) common practice for artists to “borrow” whatever reference means necessary to make a job look good and finish it on time. It is said that the secret of good swiping is not to get caught at it. Some artists at Quality did not even try to hide what they were doing. If a figure of a man jumping out of a window or punching another person was needed, an artist could usually find a good Crandall pose just by looking through Quality’s archives of bound back issues. One example in particular stands out as a classic case of swiping from Reed. In this instance, for a horror comic, Crandall images were taken from four of his earlier crime covers, photostated, and pasted up to create a totally new cover image. This cutand-paste effort showed up on Web

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Those Entertaining (and Controversial) Comics

One of the last to stumble in was Crandall and he always said he stumbled in because all of a sudden he became aware that everyone else good was there and why was he not there? He came walking in one day, and of course we had all heard of Reed Crandall and we were just as impressed with him as he was with us, so we fell on each other’s necks and he became part of the group immediately. He was a fine, fine craftsman and did some of our very best stuff. I only regret that he came to us so late. We didn’t have him for the first half, so we only got half as much out of him as we would have if he had started in 1950.

ntertaining Comics, or EC Comics, as it was better known, was owned and operated by William M. Gaines, who had inherited the company when his father died in a 1947 boating accident. At first, Gaines had very little interest in running his father’s business, which published a line of children’s titles that were losing money. For his mother’s sake, the son kept the company going and eventually — after giving up his goal of becoming a chemistry teacher — began making changes to the comic titles to suit his tastes. By the summer of 1953, when Reed Crandall walked through the doors at 225 Lafayette Street and took the elevator up to the seventh floor, the young publisher had some of the industry’s top artists working for him and was turning out a line of successful crime, horror, science fiction, and war comics.

Al Feldstein, who served as Gaines’ chief writer and editor between 1948 and 1956 (and who then went on to edit MAD magazine for another 30 years), commented in an interview with this author about Reed’s involvement with the company. “I knew Reed Crandall and had known him from way back when I was erasing his finished pages at the Iger Art Service Shop,” shared Feldstein. “Reed had always been one of my idols… and when he walked into the EC offices one day looking for work, I fell on my knees!

As Gaines recalled years later in an interview published in the comics fanzine Spa Fon #5:

This page: After a brief time freelancing, the artist found himself in the offices of Entertaining Comics, a small company of talented people who were already making an important mark on comics history. Crime, horror, science fiction, war, and even comics about pirates were just a sampling of what lay ahead. Above is the cover of Piracy #2, December, 1954–January, 1955. Next page: Terror Illustrated #1, November–December, 1955.

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Because I had always worshiped his impressive style and immense talent, I immediately gave him an assignment, and all I told him was, ‘Here, do it.’ Reed’s professionalism had already been finely tuned. His unique style and creative interpretations had already been years and years in developing. Reed was actually hired because of EC’s expansion with the new war titles edited by Harvey Kurtzman, and the resulting need to use available EC artists in them, creating a void that Reed happily filled.”

I will always remember him being in a good mood and pleasant when he came to the EC offices. He was always presentably dressed in jacket, with a bow tie, which he seemed to prefer.”

Bill Gaines

The EC writer/editor continued, “When the artists brought their finished assignments in, I would check them over… make sure they were totally acceptable, turn them over to Bill Gaines, and write the invoices for them, so that they would get their checks right away. While they were waiting for them, I would go over their new assignments. Reed was fully competent and what he did for us was terrific. During the time he worked for us, he always interpreted my scripts creatively and competently and respected his deadlines and always met them. Whenever Reed came in with his art, me and Johnny Craig, who also had space there at EC, would oooh and ahhh over it, which was always well-deserved.

Al Feldstein 152

Reed was a natural to begin working on Gaines’ crime and horror comic titles. Crime SuspenStories had begun in October of 1950, with Shock SuspenStories following in early 1952. Some comic historians claim that both titles were created to cash in on the success of Lev Gleason’s popular Crime Does Not Pay comics, but the EC titles were always geared toward a different, more mature audience of readers and did not exploit the usual fare of cops and robbers shooting it out on street corners. Crime SuspenStories reached deeper into the American psyche and presented a hard-boiled, unsentimental portrayal of crimes dealing with sex and violence, usually with a surprise-twist ending that usually brought justice to the guilty. Shock SuspenStories started out with a wide range of content, including one horror, one science fiction, one war, and one shock-type story in each issue. In time, it proved to be one of EC’s most memorable titles, presenting groundbreaking stories dealing with racial prejudice, anti-Semitism, gang violence, corrupt public officials, drug

Reed Crandall: Illustrator of the Comics

on board, Gaines’ horror comics were already near the top of their form and widely considered the best in the field, and thus were being widely imitated by other publishers. Gaines and Feldstein plotted the stories, with Feldstein finalizing dialogue and writing the scripts directly onto large sheets of Strathmore paper provided to the artists. There were no typed scripts at EC. When the artists came in to pick up a job, they reviewed the pages briefly with the writer/editor to make sure everything was clear. One of Feldstein’s great attributes was to give his artists complete freedom to draw the features any way they wanted, encouraging experimentation and to follow their own natural instincts as artists and give themselves credit by signing their work. Reed’s second EC undertaking was a vampire tale published in Haunt of Fear #20, from July-August 1953, which afforded the artist a chance to draw what he was very good at: beautiful women and elderly people. This six-page classic, called “Bloody Sure,” features a young Waldo Buckley, who, passing through a sleepy little town one evening, is attracted to a beautiful young widow by the name of Anna Hodes. Two local townspeople try to persuade Waldo to stay away from this mysterious woman by explaining that Anna’s past five husbands have all died within six months after marrying. They suspect she is a vampire. Even Anna’s son is sickly most of the time and very pale looking. It seems every husband she had would begin to look weaker and paler until he expired. Waldo scoffs at their warnings and winds up marrying the beautiful girl anyway, yet he’s determined to find out the truth behind the rumors. On their wedding night, Anna waits until she thinks Waldo is sleeping, then begins to move her son’s bed over next to his, whispering, “Soon, darling! Soon you’ll have what you need!” She then proceeds to roll in a blood transfusion machine, but Waldo, who is wide awake and listening, now suspects it is the son who is the vampire, abruptly confronts her about her actions. Anna, now sobbing and crying, explains that her son has a rare blood disease that requires frequent transfusions. As it turns out, in the shock ending, it is Waldo who is the bloodsucker and, after “revealing his needle-like fangs,” he proceeds to tell Anna, “A vampire knows another vampire... why do you think I married you? Because I wanted your blood.” Here again, Crandall pulls out all the stops in revealing his great understanding of how to draw human figures and giving them unusual characteristics, making them more real and appealing to the casual reader. Some of the best rendering on this job is actually the facial expressions of two “old timers” who confront Waldo and try to warn him about Anna. Since a lot of the scenes in the story take place at night, This page: “From Here to Insanity” is just one of Reed’s most “entertaining” stories for EC. Crime SuspenStories #18, Aug.–Sept., 1953. Next page: Page from Crime SuspenStories #22, April–May, 1954.

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embarrassment to a new level. Reed’s EC contributions were always top-notch and well-executed. Reed wound up producing 18 stories for Gaines’ Crime SuspenStories and Shock SuspenStories from spring of 1953 to late 1954. He also contributed two tales to EC’s war title Two-Fisted Tales, edited by Harvey Kurtzman. One was titled “Memphis” and appeared in #35, dated October 1953. This seven-page EC classic tells the true saga of a historical battle that occurred on June 6, 1862, between the Union Ironclads and the Confederate gunboats on the Mississippi River. Here Reed depicts the proud citizens of Memphis standing on nearby Chickasaw bluffs, cheering on the six rebel ships as the vessels meet the Union Army head on. The reader sees a sad-looking wife standing on the banks, who knows that her spouse is caught in the middle of this melee and will probably be wounded or die. Her young son is bragging to the other young boys about how his father is among the fighting sailors, as they cheer on the rebel gunboats. The Memphis citizens exalt for their side to “whip them Yanks.” One by one, we see the rebel ships unexpectedly rammed by Union steamships with reinforced bows, followed by the Ironclads with cannons agape and roaring. In the final panels, the dying husband is being brought before the distraught wife, who, within minutes, becomes a widow. In the background, the kids continue to play and boastfully shout at an enemy they know nothing about. As the woman weeps over her dead beloved, an old bystander concludes, “Sometime it seems grownups ain’t got no more sense ’bout how serious war is than children! No more serious than children ay-tall!”

The story presents excruciating battle scenes on four of its seven pages, as Claudius’s army clashes with Britons in a riproaring engagement that took place in 55 B.C. With chariots and horses cartwheeling end over end, javelins filling the air, and balls of flaming pitch falling from the heavens, the artist gives readers some of his best panel-to-panel illustrated compositions of war and combat. His usual “R. Crandall” signature is not seen on this story, but instead a new signature, lettered in a “Roman” font, appears in the lower left of the top panel. Perhaps Reed was getting more into signing his art or just experimenting with a signature that related more to the actual story itself.

Another one of Reed’s Two-Fisted Tales classics is the story titled “Battle,” which appeared in #36, dated January 1954. The splash panel alone is enough to draw in any reader who appreciates a grandiose scene. Depicting Tiberius Claudius Caesar riding a horse, as the Roman emperor leads an assortment of elephants, camels, Nubian spearmen, and his soldiers toward a frontal assault on Britain.

While at the publisher, Reed also got to try his hand at the only three-dimensional story he would ever draw for

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workshop and constructed seven or eight drawing boards. All of these had two pegs inserted at its top. I used a loose-leaf page-hole puncher to set up four levels of depth above a fifth background level, with the ‘shift’ holes carefully calculated, and prepared to put out 3-D EC comics. It was decided that the final level, the horizonvanishing point or furthest-away level that only needed one set of holes (because it required no shift) would be “Craftint” for two reasons: First, since all of the elements on the acetate levels would be outlined and then white-opaqued on their backs, there would be no way to successfully introduce line-grays in them. Therefore, the Craftint final level, with its wonderful variations of gray patterns, would set off those black-&-white opaqued elements beautifully. Secondly, punching holes in that Craftint paper would be a hell of a lot easier than punching holes in regular illustration board.”

power. While most on the surface are either killed or exposed to radiation poisoning, a young mining engineer was safe from the explosion and its aftermath due to being in a lead mine 750 feet underground. Four days later, he digs out to find that death, desolation, and ruin abound and he learns that U.S. counter-attacks have annihilated the enemy. He soon discovers his fiancée survived the nuclear holocaust, and they decide to go ahead, get married, and together they begin building a new world. A year later, after whole cities have been rebuilt, the engineer is offered a job searching for uranium in South America for a five-year contract. His now-pregnant wife encourages him to go even though he won’t be around for their child’s birth. After a few months in the Southern Hemisphere, he receives a letter informing him that the baby was born, but it doesn’t mention whether it’s a boy or girl. As time goes on, people in his camp begin dying, one by one, due to radiation poisoning. Nearly four years later, only he has survived and now realizes that he was shielded from the initial atom bomb blasts. Eventually making his way back to civilization, he discovers mutants are now roaming the cities everywhere. In talking to the somewhat frightening yet friendly mutants, he learns that they are the offspring of those affected by radiation poisoning who the mutants refer to as “pre-atomics.” They tell him to be careful of the “two-headed mutants, they have split personalities, are insane and are killers!” He makes his way to his home, still hoping his spouse is alive. Upon entering, he is rushed by something with two heads snarling and screaming. After killing the mutant with his gun, he sees a photograph of his wife sitting on the mantel. She’s holding a two-headed baby on her lap inscribed “Junior age six months.” “Child of Tomorrow” is a classic EC story and probably challenged Crandall’s talents a little more than the usual fare by requiring him to visualize a world that had been devastated by nuclear weapons, followed by the building of a new world with a sleek, futuristic design. Reed’s architectural renderings are always well thought-out, with exacting perspective and shadows. Even the mutants, with their distorted faces and misshapen limbs, are pure Crandall and they add a terrifying element to the story that warns of disastrous effects from atomic radiation.

Of the three titles originally scheduled to be published, only two would see print during the spring of 1954. The third, a science fiction comic, was cancelled even before a title had been selected. The 3-D comic book craze ran out of steam rather quickly once kids realized just how difficult the stories were to read and thus they stopped buying them. Most publishers who had invested in the new process lost a great deal of time and money. Four 3-D science fiction stories were completed for Gaines’ ill-fated project, including the Crandalldrawn “Child of Tomorrow.” This story, along with all the others, sat in EC’s storage vault for nearly two decades before finally being printed in the EC fanzine Squa Tront, in 1967. “Child of Tomorrow” is an eight-page story that relates events following a surprise atom bomb attack on the United States by a foreign

Since the early 1940s, comic publishers had been criticized by child advocates, parent organizations, and religious groups for the contents of their publications. One concern was that the minds of young children were somehow being eroded or harmed by what was perceived as a constant barrage of violence and criminal exploitation in the comics. Even Bill Gaines’ father, Max, had responded to the criticism by writing letters and refuting those complaints

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Chapter Fifteen: A Treasure Chest of Classics

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A Treasure Chest of Classics

he 1960s would turn out to be a period of dramatic change for the comics industry. Reed came home from Montauk by September of 1960, and bolstered by new Treasure Chest assignments, the artist was feeling good about having some stability back in his life. Within months after his Long Island vacation, George Evans called to ask for help with more help with his Classics Illustrated accounts and, of course, Reed accepted. The new job was Gilberton’s adaptation of Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Upon receipt of Reed’s original art, Evans noticed a little something extra located in the top border area of page 28. In one of the panels, Oliver Twist is seen outside an inn called “The George,” which is lettered on a placard hanging over the doorway. As a small joke, Reed drew another signboard in the border, titled “The George,” featuring a portrait of George Evans looking a little intoxicated. This issue was released during the fall of 1961.

The last Classics project that these two friends worked on together was In Freedom’s Cause, adapted from the book by George Alfred Henty and completed in late 1961. Evans penciled the first half of the book, and Reed penciled the remainder. They then sent each half to one another, and inked the pages. Here are 47 pages of beautifully illustrated panels presenting the story of Scotland’s William Wallace and Archie Forbes, who struggled against England’s tyrannical King Edward, winning freedom and independence for their beloved country in 1328. Evans and Reed pulled out all the stops on this one, depicting horses as well as men in combat using bow and arrow, swordplay, and spears, in such realistic settings that it makes one almost believe that both artists were actually there when these historical events occurred. Unfortunately, in early 1962, Gilberton announced that all existing assignments should be sent in, whether completed or not. Due to distribution changes taking place in the industry, a drastic drop in sales had forced the publisher to cease all new title production. After some delay, In Freedom’s Cause was finally issued in a British edition in 1963, and later the U.S. in 1969. Out of all the Classics work that Reed and Evans collaborated on, this final book is the rarest and hardest to find, suggesting that distribution problems were definitely hindering Classics Illustrated toward the end of their run.

The next year, the Evans/ Crandall team worked on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which resulted in one of their best efforts. L.B. Cole, longtime veteran of the comics game and Gilberton’s art director, painted the cover for this edition. Evans and Reed continued to collaborate on a number of 25¢ specials for Classics, along with several editions created for the World Around Us series, including Fishing; For Gold and Glory; Spies; The Illustrated Story of Communications; and Undersea Adventures.

Above: With the help of Frank Borth, Reed Crandall found work at Treasure Chest comics and his first cover, dated December, 1960, was this outstanding depiction of the 1859 Battle of Solferino, where the mounted armies of France and Sardinia fight the Austrians in the Italian countryside.

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Edgar R. Burroughs Years

eed Crandall’s most significant encounter with the field of illustration art came at an opportune time, during the early 1960s, as one of America’s most beloved adventure-fantasy authors was being rediscoverd by a new generation of readers. As with most in his generation, the artist was already familiar regarding the most famous character of Edgar Rice Burroughs [1875-1950], Tarzan of the Apes, having read and enjoyed many of ERB’s adventure stories in hardcover editions of the 1920s and 1930s. Over thirty years later, these fantastic worlds created by the author would reconnect with Reed, offering him the opportunity to become reacquainted with the stories and interpret the characters and settings in a visual way as yet unseen by ERB fans. As usual, it would be Al Williamson who was the conduit bringing together the man with fresh challenges. Burroughs, like so many writers before him, had tried his hand at many different professions (including that of pencil sharpener wholesaler!) when he started reading pulp fiction magazines. After realizing just how badly written many of these stories were, he decided to try his hand at scribing his own. Aiming material at the pulp market, he soon made his first sale, for $400, to the Frank A. Munsey Publishing Company, of New York. This effort, titled “Under the Moons of Mars,” ran as a six-part serial in Munsey’s All-Story Weekly pulp magazine, between February and July of 1912. By the time “Under the Moons of Mars” finished its run, Burroughs had completed and turned over to Munsey’s his next opus, “Tarzan of the Apes,” which appeared in their October issue as a complete novel. This seminal adventure is about a young boy, born of English parents in the jungles of Africa, who is adopted by a she-ape named Kala after his parents die. Now given the name of Tarzan (“White Skin” in ape language), the lad soon discovers his true origins. Growing up in the jungle, Tarzan becomes a skilled hunter and eventually elicits jealousy from the ape leader who, feeling threatened, attacks the young man. Following a fierce battle, Tarzan kills Kerchak and takes

his place as the new “king” of the apes. This story was so well received by the public that two years later, the A. C. McClurg Company, of Chicago, issued it as a hardcover book, which would sell in the millions. Over ensuing years, Burroughs wrote more than two dozen sequels, continuing the Tarzan series into the 1940s, and making the character one of the most popular cultural icons of fiction ever conceived. “Under the Moons of Mars” also enjoyed a successful publishing history. This story, the first in Burroughs’ Barsoom series, surrounds American Civil War veteran John Carter

This page: Reed at his drawing board in his South Sycamore apartment working on an illustration for the Canaveral Press’ The Gods of Mars (which instead was used as the cover of ERB-dom #10, May, 1964). Photo by Robert Barrett. Next page: Urged on by good friend Al Williamson, Reed drew this masterful illustration of the Ape Man as a sample to show Canaveral, which used it for the cover of Tarzan and the Madman, published in 1965.

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who, while prospecting in Arizona, is mysteriously transported to Mars (“Barsoom” to its inhabitants). Due to the planet’s lesser gravity, Carter finds he has great strength and soon meets up with the Tharks, a nomadic tribe of the planet’s warlike, four-armed, green inhabitants. Using his newfound power with past combat experience, Carter rises in position and gains the respect and friendship of one of the chiefs. During the adventure, the Tharks capture the Princess of Helium, Deja Thoris, of the humanoid red Martian race. As the story progresses, Carter and Thoris fall in love, which results in them being thrust into political battles between the red and green denizens of the Red Planet. In October of 1917, Reed Crandall was only seven months old, when this Barsoom serial was re-titled A Princess of Mars and issued as a hardcover. Burroughs would go on to write numerous novels in this series, along with many other popular science fiction and fantasy stories, throughout his long and fortunate career. Other tales, such as “At the Earth’s Core,” part of his Pellucidar series, featured such enduring characters as David Innes and Abner Perry, who travel through the earth’s crust in an iron “mole machine” and discover a world of prehistoric creatures 500 miles below the planet’s surface. The Venus series, consisting of four novels and one novelette, follow the heroic adventures of earthman Carson Napier on Venus (known as Amtor to its human-like inhabitants).

In 1962, after completing an investigation into the copyright status of the Edgar Rice Burroughs catalog, two used-book dealers in New York City found that nearly half of his books had fallen out of copyright. They proceeded to form Canaveral Press and began reprinting these now-available titles in new hardcover editions. Thus was launched a Burroughs boom that would last for the next two decades. During the early months of 1964, Canaveral editor Dick Lupoff contacted Reed’s friend from the EC days, Al Williamson. Lupoff asked the artist to provide illustrations for some editions, having already seen Williamson’s work through Larry Ivie, a contributor to the new imprint. Williamson signed on and suggested, if time permitted, that old buddy Reed could take on a few assignments himself (thereby supplementing his Treasure Chest account). Shortly thereafter, Williamson instructed Reed to work up sample illustrations which would be used to pitch Canaveral. To help Reed visualize some characters, his friend included a copy of a Barsoom painting by legendary illustrator J. Allen St. John, taken from the March 1941 issue of Amazing Stories. Unfortunately, on that pulp cover, St. John had misinterpreted some visual features of the story and Reed inadvertently incorporated these same details resulting in a still sensational but slightly flawed illustration. Although this drawing was rejected, it succeeded in demonstrating Reed’s artistic talent for creating great imagery, portraying action, and

This page: At top, the original art drawn as a sample for Canaveral Press, which was seeking work on its new Edgar Rice Burroughs books. Above inset is, left, Amazing Stories, March, 1941, which helped Reed to visualize some ERB characters and, right, cover of ERB-dom #11, August, 1964. Next page: At top is original art for the 1965 hardcover Tarzan and the Madman. Below is illustration from Canaveral’s John Carter of Mars (1964).

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other books would follow. The proposal was rejected by the heirs, but a few copies privately circulated among the ERB collectors community. Barrett had acquired a copy of Byrne’s original manuscript and was having it bound when he asked Reed for a black-&-white painting to serve as the book’s frontispiece. Crandall agreed and worked up two sketches, which afforded Barrett a choice before Reed finished the assignment. Both versions depicted an arena setting, one with Tarzan splitting the head of a Banth with a sword, as Deja Thoris looks on, the other scene with Thoris running from a Banth as Tarzan strikes the beast from the side, with green men looking on in the background. After Barrett chose the latter, Reed completed the painting in about a month. When the young man saw the superb final art, he decided to use it as the volume’s dust-jacket. This original, measuring 9" x 12", was Reed’s first painting to depict ERB characters and it was soon framed to hang in Barrett’s home. A few months later, during one of his visits to the apartment, Barrett was gifted with a watercolor drawing of full-figured Carter and Thoris standing together. This illustration was eventually reproduced in black-&-white half-tone printing in the second issue of Wallace Wood’s comics prozine, Witzend [1967]. By June 1964, Barrett had commissioned Reed to do another painting, this one much larger and in full color. It featured a sequence in Chessmen of Mars, depicting Deja Thoris being rescued by the Earthman warrior and surrounded by multi-limbed

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adversaries, one that always had been a favorite of Barrett since first reading the novel many years earlier. After completing several small sketches and one large final preliminary, Reed prepared a smaller finished painting in oils. He gave this to Bob as a gift, explaining that it might take some time to do the final large one as he could only work on it as allowed by his regular Treasure Chest assignments.

(and superb cartoonist in her own right), Marie Severin, drew caricatures of EC’s freelancers to decorate the office walls during Gaines’ Christmas parties. The renowned bullpen was depicted with a full-figure photo of Hollywood bombshell Marilyn Monroe pasted in beside the artist. The theme behind these humorous images was, “What our boys would do if they were alone with Marilyn Monroe.” Severin’s cartoon showed Reed as a very shy artist, with art portfolio in hand, delivering a job to the office. Reed’s head is tilted downwards, tears flowing down his cheeks, as he pitifully exclaims “Do you really think so? I thought I did a terrible job!!” This attitude was what Reed projected about his abilities when delivering finished art to EC. He simply never thought he was good enough and it did not go unnoticed.

Almost to a fault, Reed was always generous to his fans and others who appreciated his art and, during his lifetime, he simply gave away many sketches and drawings. The physical possession of original art never meant much to Reed, who would just as soon give it away to his admirers rather than see it sitting around collecting dust and taking up space. It was not uncommon for Barrett and other visitors to note preliminary sketches and even tight, finished drawings thrown into Reed’s trashcan begging to be rescued. The artist always used thin vellum paper to puzzle out ideas and layouts before transferring the work to the illustration board where tackling the final drawing. A number of these velum originals were saved because, when asked, Reed allowed visiting art lovers to retrieve the discards out of the dustbin and, as a result, they are coveted in collections to this day.

In July of 1964, Reed went to visit with Al Williamson and his wife, Arlene, at their home in Fosterdale, New York. While there, he wrote a two-page letter to Barrett and it revealed much of what was happening at that time in the life of both Reed and his host. Atop the first page, Reed drew a penciled humorous-looking caricature of Williamson sitting at his drawing board, dressed as John Carter of Mars. In the missive, Reed mentions, “Al has a nice studio here and we have been knocking out a lot of work together! As a matter of fact, we have been so busy I haven’t had a chance to write you until now.” Reed explained that the two had made a trip into New York City, where they visited several friends, including Russ Jones and Wallace Wood, and “shot the breeze about the bad old days.” He further adds, “An outfit in N.Y. is starting a new comic book and I have one of the scripts already.” The outfit to which Reed referred was industry upstart Warren Publishing, which was about to launch a new horror comic book in magazine format. The

From about 1965 until 1973, as more fans and collectors discovered his Wichita address to visit or write and request original drawings, Reed turned out a variety of specialty pieces, usually for little or no money. Some of these originals, scattered far and wide, remain unpublished and buried in collections across the U.S. and overseas. Of those who visited Reed, many soon realized that the artist was totally without ego and had a remarkably selfdeprecating attitude about his work. This attitude was aptly expressed as far back to the mid-1950s, when the artist worked at EC. In 1955, the outfit’s colorist

This page: Photo and art collages of all the EC artists, writers, and editors were displayed at the 1955 EC Christmas party. This, at top inset, shows Reed’s self-deprecating attitude about his abilities. Above is a painting gifted to Robert Barrett in 1964. Next page: At top is Edgar Rice Burroughs and his most famous creations drawn by Reed as frontispiece for Dick Lupoff’s biography of the adventurer writer, Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure, published by Canaveral Press (1965). Bottom inset is a specialty drawing of Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon with love interest Dale Arden, based on the 1940 movie serial. The original art was given to Reed’s close friend Al Williamson in 1964.

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Previous page: Preliminary pencil drawing for the Burroughs John Carter painting shown on Page 212. This page: On the left, from top, three photos of Al, Reed, and Warren Publications editor/writer Russ Jones, boating; and Arlene Williamson standing over Reed at his easel, while he paints her portrait in oils. On right are photos of Reed at work (joined by Al Williamson for the center shot). All pictures taken during Reed’s 1964 visit to Al and Arlene’s Forestdale, New York, home.

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The Comics Bounce Back

stable of freelancers. Most of the EC artists attended that gathering, except for Johnny Craig, John Severin, Graham Ingels, and Reed Crandall. During that time, filmmakers took an interest in EC’s old horror line and two major motion pictures were produced, Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror, replete with segments adapting some of the company’s best tales of terror.

eed Crandall suddenly had a lot of work before him as he started on the Creepy script he had picked up from editor Russ Jones during a trip to New York City. The new black-&-white horror comics magazine turned out to be singular in the field as, akin to the Picto-Fiction magazines published by EC in the mid-1950s, the comics publication did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Comics Code Association of America, which was going strong and still holding sway over the content of mainstream comics. With few restrictions, Creepy was intent on presenting stories geared to a more adult audience. The publisher of this new periodical was James Warren, an entrepreneur who had started in the business during the late 1950s with his men’s magazine, After Hours, tailored after Hugh Hefner’s Playboy, which lasted a mere four issues. Shortly after that endeavor, he set the publishing world on fire with his successful Famous Monsters of Filmland, edited by Forrest J. Ackerman, a magazine catering to adolescents devoted to fantasy, horror, and science fiction movies of the past and present.

Visionary publisher James Warren surmised that his young Famous Monsters readership might respond eagerly to gripping yarns of monsters and the macabre, and thus embarked on a revival (of a sort) of the EC ethos: unrestrained storytelling using the best writers and artists in the industry. As Warren had been a fan of the comics helmed by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein, he gathered many of the original artists back together to work on the new title, Creepy, and offered them $35 a page. This veritable EC reunion boasted stalwarts including Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall, Jack Davis, George Evans, Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel, Gray Morrow, Joe Orlando, Angelo Torres, Alex Toth, Al Williamson, and Wallace Wood.

During the mid-1960s, EC Comics fandom was experiencing burgeoning growth as enthusiastic aficionados had discovered the old four-color comic books through used bookstores or dealers through the mail. This second generation of “fan-addicts” eventually resulted in a wave of handsomely-produced fanzines, such as Spa Fon and Squa Tront, and, in 1972, led to a New York City convention devoted to the legendary outfit and its talented

At the outset, the new magazine featured only black-&white or gray-tone interior artwork. This monotone approach appealed to many artists so accustomed to seeing their work poorly reproduced in color comic books, and Warren’s paper stock and reproduction methods were also better than regular comics in those days. Without color to darken or muddy-up their work, many artists employed more detail and depth, and,

This page: Creepy magazine reunited most of the original artists who had drawn horror stories during the 1950s for EC Comics. EC stalwart Jack Davis created the cover of this first issue, released in November of 1964. Next page: Reed’s old EC buddy Wallace Wood enlisted Reed for his new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents title, to provide Dynamo and Noman stories. This cover, from #4, April, 1966, was penciled by Reed and inked by Wood.

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at the same time as the launch of Creepy, the young publisher was looking at other ideas. Being an ardent Sherlock Holmes fan, he negotiated with the Arthur Conan Doyle estate to adapt the detective’s exploits into the black-&-white magazine format. Warren recognized that Reed had the perfect style for such a project and was a natural lead-in artist but, unfortunately, the estate was not interested. Like the old EC comics, Warren decided to include a host in his new horror magazine, if only to add a bit of humor and introduce readers to each story. Based on input from Russ Jones and Jim Warren, Jack Davis, who had drawn tales narrated by the Crypt Keeper for Gaines’ line, was called on to work up character portraits of Uncle Creepy. Though the artist, perhaps because he was quickly becoming one of America’s more respected commercial cartoonists, was reluctant to get involved with horror comics again on a large scale, at the tenacious urging of James T. Warren, Davis drew the first issue’s cover, which

depicted Uncle Creepy reading his magazine, surrounded by an assortment of monsters and creatures. Reed dove into his initial Creepy assignment with a sense of renewed energy and an inspiration to produce horrific images not witnessed since his EC heyday. His six-page story, “Vampires Fly At Dusk,” was written by Archie Goodwin and it features a classic tale of vampires intermingled with just a touch of romance. Rendered mostly with a fine line pen tip, the narrative is set in Sicily and it tells of Count Carlo Orsini and his beautiful new wife, who have recently moved into an old castle. Since their arrival, several villagers are murdered, leading the local police inspector to suspect the count. Similar to the twist-ending stories EC was renown, the story misdirects the reader into thinking that the noble is the offender when, in fact, his spouse, albeit unaware of her own bloodsucking identity, is the killer. After discovering her husband has a hidden passageway entering the castle and a library filled with books on vampires,

Jim Warren

This page: “Vampires Fly at Dusk” was Reed’s first contribution to the new Creepy and his “Curse of the Full Moon” was published in #4, June, 1965. Both, seen at top, are representative of some of his best work for Warren Publications. Inset above is James Warren, publisher of Creepy. Next page: A true Crandall masterpiece for Warren was an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” (Creepy #6, Fall, 1965).

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a number of writers and artists to help out, most of whom lived in the New York City area. Still, the de facto art director contacted Reed during the summer months of 1965 and asked whether there was any interest in taking on some assignments. With an agreeable Reed on board, Wood put him to work immediately on a ten-page origin story for a new hero called Noman. Written by Wood assistant Bill Pearson, this origin story tells the tale of Doctor Dunn, an elderly scientist who has lost use of his legs and serves as a volunteer to partake in an experiment that will transfer his mind to the body of an android. When the experiment is completed, not only does the guinea pig have a young and strong body, he has now become immortal. In the story, Noman demonstrates that he is, at will, able to transfer his consciousness from one android body to another. Donning a hooded cloak of invisibility, Noman becomes one of the most powerful super-hero spies working for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves). Reed included a lot of detail into the debut story and even added his initials “RC” in the

and to keep them “on model,” Photostats of the Jack Davis heads were used repeatedly on the early efforts, as some artists couldn’t quite capture the humorous effect Warren wanted to maintain for these characters. In later years, the policy was eased and Reed was allowed to draw snarky Uncle Creepy. And also, since Reed was also a competent letterer, Warren editors eventually allowed him to lettering a few of his assignments. A great example of Reed doing art, lettering, and the character intro portrait, is a seven-pager titled “Keep Your Spirits Up,” that appeared in Creepy #25, dated February, 1969. During the summer of 1965, with super-hero comics sales on the rise, an old pal from Reed’s EC days, Wallace Wood, had struck a deal with Harry Shorten at Tower Publications to package a new comic book series featuring several original super-powered characters, one that mixed Marvel-like characters with the then-exploding James Bond 007 craze. The new title, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, would feature 68 pages instead of the usual 36, and retail for 25¢ rather than the usual 12¢. Even for Wood, a seasoned professional, filling this many pages with new material on a bi-monthly schedule proved to be an overwhelming task. Wood proceeded to hire Top left: With Creepy sales doing so well, Jim Warren released a black-&-white war comics magazine titled Blazing Combat, in October of 1965. On “Thermopylae,” in #4, Reed used an ink-wash technique to inject a tonal quality into the final work. Above right: Written by Bill Pearson, Reed drew the origin story of the android super-hero Noman for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1, dated November, 1965.

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Flash Gordon and Squa Tront

l Williamson had been a fan and collector of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strip since growing up in Bogotá, Columbia. He had long dreamed of taking over the feature and follow in the footsteps of his idol. During the spring of 1966, the young man finally got his chance to do something almost as good: Williamson was offered the job of drawing the new Flash Gordon comic series, to be published by King Features, as the syndicate decided to try its luck on the comics rack. Editor Bill Harris agreed that the cartoonist would have complete freedom on the title, whether the scripts, artwork, lettering, or coloring. He brought in Larry Ivie, Archie Goodwin, and Bill Pearson as writers, and his wife, Arlene, served as letterer. Emblazoned with the King Comics logo, Flash Gordon made its debut on newsstands in September 1966 to resounding applause of the space opera’s fans worldwide. Early the following year, Jerry Weist, Robert Barrett, and this author joined to put out an EC Comics-related fanzine called Squa Tront (a title derived from an alien language exclamation used in the imprint’s science fiction stories), and Barrett asked Reed to ink a caricature of Al Williamson that Reed had drawn at the top of a letter sent to Barrett in 1964. The piece was to now be used as part of a heading on an article about Williamson and his Flash Gordon comic book work, and Reed was asked to change the costume on the caricature from John Carter’s get-up to that of Flash Gordon. Even before Squa Tront #1 came out, King Feature editor Sylvan Byck asked Williamson

to take over the Secret Agent Corrigan daily newspaper strip, as well. This popular syndicated feature had been created by Alex Raymond, in 1934, under the title of Secret Agent X-9. Williamson agreed to take on the assignment and, after finishing work on the fifth issue of Flash Gordon, he began penciling the new strip in December of 1966. Knowing that he could not simultaneously handle both a comic strip and comic book, Williamson recommended Reed to be his successor on the latter. Editor Harris had no problem with that idea and, by late January 1967, Reed received a script. At the same time, Williamson sent Reed some Alex Raymond reference material to refresh his memory about the characters. The pay would be the same as it had been for Williamson — $35 a page and based, on both the script and a request by the syndicate, Reed worked up a small 8" x 10" pencil drawing on bond paper, suggesting the next issue’s cover. This scene depicted Flash, girlfriend Dale Arden, and faithful Dr. Zarkov on a raft, being attacked by what appears to be a giant amphibious reptile. After further discussion with King Features, Reed worked up a much larger, tighter pencil drawing, revising the sea creature to exude more of a fish look, and re-positioning Flash and Zarkov so their faces could now be prominently viewed. In the story, these huge aquatic creatures are actually mechanical submarines built and operated by a tribe of horned hunters called the Cragmen. Reed dated the revised drawing February 4, 1967, folded it in half, and sent it off to the syndicate for approval.

This page: Squa Tront #2, September, 1968, produced in Wichita, Kansas by EC Comics fans who met and befriended Reed Crandall, remaining friends into the latter years of his career. The artist contributed illustrations to this early EC fanzine. Next page: When Al Williamson relinquished the art chores on King Comics’ Flash Gordon in late 1965, he recommended Reed Crandall as successor. Reed’s first cover was #6, July, 1967.

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It is believed this tightly-rendered drawing was needed to submit to both King Features executives and the Comics Code Authority for their approval before the final art was completed. In short order, Reed received the go-ahead. By this time Reed had already started penciling a 24-page story, scripted by Bill Pearson, the first segment of “Flash Gordon Meets the Cragmen of the Lost Continent.” This chapter was 13 pages in length, followed by a second, “The Totem Master,” consisting of another eleven pages. Reed finalized the cover design on a piece of illustration board and sent the entire package off to New York. Flash Gordon #6, the first all-Crandall issue, debuted with the cover date of June 1967 and it was met

with approval by fans. A few months later, Pinnacle Books issued a reprint paperback, Flash Gordon on the Lost Continent of Mongo, containing this same story plus one of Williamson’s earlier efforts. In 1977, Reed’s story was reprinted (albeit re-edited and re-lettered) as part of an approved educational supplementary reading program for children. Some pages were eliminated and dialogue was altered for this new version, which was issued under the King Features banner, but actually published by Charlton Publications, in Derby, Connecticut. In the sidebar on the page after next, Bill Pearson, longtime comics writer, artist, and editor, reminiscences about Reed Crandall and his art.

This page: Top left is Reed’s preliminary sketch for the cover of Flash Gordon #6, and, at right, after adjusting the monster and reposing Dr. Zarkov and Flash, a second preliminary was approved by the New York editor. Inset above is the painted Mexican version of Reed’s cover (with fangs added to the creature by the unknown artist) and a British edition featuring the story. Next page: Reed’s original art for the same issue, dated July, 1967.

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CHAPTER NINETEEN

The Spotlight Dims n 1968, Reed turned out one more job b ffor or Wallace Wood at T To ower Publishing, a 10-page Dynamo stor y, “ The Arena,” which appeared in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #18, dated September of that year. Once again, Wood used a splash page from Reed’s submission as the cover. When the last issue (#20) came out in November of 1969, it was all-reprint, containing previously released stories, which included one of Reed’s d’ earlier l efff fforts. Shortly affter this time, T To ower threw in the towel on publishing comic books and chose to ffocus ocus on their paperback line. Reed also produced ffour our stories ffor or Treasure Chest in 1968 and, toward the end of the year, the artist started receiving new Creepy and Eerie scripts from Jim Warren’s new editor, Bill Parente. For awhile, Parente let Reed do the entire job, including lettering the stor y. R Reed eed never believed he was much good at lettering, and while it was passable, the style itself never quite matched the standard lettering in the magazine. Unlike earlier tales that incorporated pasted-on Photostatic headportraits of the horror hosts on the ffir irst and last page, ffor or a short time Reed Reed had permission to draw his own versions of the IF YOU ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW, CLICK THE Ohio-based compan ny (that (t BOOK! was having ghoulish mascots. He provided only three BELOWthe TO ORDER THIS financial problems, as well). With the work or the b-&-w stories ffor b-& horror comic line slow-down, Reed was lefftt with w idle time that year, though 10 of his older stories on his hands, but free time, however, had were reprinted in various Warren titles and ver er been a good option ffor or Reed. Ever annuals, the publisher was still tr ying to ILLUSTRATOR OFnev THE COMICS since the artist’s divvor orce, he had devoted dig out from under er ffinancial inancial difffficulties From the 1940s to the ’70s, REED CRANDALL an nyy att ention primarily to his work. Mar vel that had begun in 1967. Beginning to ffeel eel brought a unique and masterful style to American Comics its line of super-hero comic the pinch all around and with no new job comic art. Using an illustrator's approachand on everybooks w er e booming, but Reed did not opportunities on the horizon, it was not a thing he touched, Crandall gained a reputation as seemartist” to sho w muchish skillful interes t in drawing the characters nor is the “artist’s through interpretations pleasant time ffor or the artist. His longtime outlets ffor or sustaining of Golden Agewn super-heroes RAY, it kno if he contDOLL actedMAN, StanTHE Lee’s outffit it looking king ffor or work. work were dr ying up all around. and BLACKHAWK (his signature In September of 1969,character); Warren horror added yet another comic and sci-fi for the legendary EC Comics line; Warren magazine toEERIE, his publishing output on a gamble that this Even his usually reliable Treasure Chest assignments werePublishing’s CREEPY, and BLAZING newthe release w ould appeal mor e toRice the adult comic reading dropping offff cons considerably from what they used to be and, COMBAT; THUNDER AGENTS and Edgar audience. The as Vam mGORDON pirella and it ffeatur eatured Warren’s characters; andtitle evenwFLASH during the year of 1969, he turned out only two stories ffor or Burroughs

LINK

REED CRANDALL

for King Features. Comic art historian ROGER HILL has compiled a complete and extensive history This page: At top is a photo of Reed posing for a character in Al Williamson’ s Secret Agent Corrigan n newspaper strip.ofPhoto by Al Williamson. Crandall’s life and career, from his early years and major successes, through his tragic Above inset is the cover T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agentss #18, which whic craftily repurposed Reed’s splash page from his interior Dynamo story. Next page: Creepy decline and passing in 1982. This FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER includes never-before-seen #74 (October, 1975) was an all-Crandall issue, reprinting nine of his Wphotos, arren stories. (Disregarding misspelling of his surname the tribute’ s words of a wealth of rare andthe unpublished artwork, and overoneighty thousand cover (vignettes of his ’60s horror work), it assuredly served as testament to the his illustrators artistry during Warren Publications’ golden age.) insight intoexcellence one of theoftrue of the comics.

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