More Holi-Day Surprise

Last post looked at Charlton's Holi-Day Surprise 55 (Mar/67) and its art: some by the usual team of Bill Fraccio, pencils, and Tony Tallarico, inks, but some of it the less usual (for the time) full art by Tallarico.

One reviewer credited the entire issue's art to Tallarico (whose cover signature was the only indication of artist), ignoring as usual Fraccio's contribution. But there are two stories neither artist had anything to do with. The monotone coloring scheme obscures the style, but "The Story of Christmas" strikes me as by Luis Dominguez, who started working for Charlton in 1965.

"The Story of Hanukah" at first glance could also be by Dominguez, but the faces of the soldiers, for instance, seem less defined than his usual. I wonder if this art is by Norman Nodell, also at Charlton as of the mid-Sixties.

Below is one of the single-page stories in Holi-Day Surprise where I said I saw Bill Fraccio's influence on layouts but not his actual pencils; I'd say the full art is by Tony Tallarico, as in the other filler pages. By the way, Tallarico lettered all his work in this comic, as on so many others. The best I can say about the writing is that it isn't Joe Gill's.