But this Swan-pencilled story, "Killer at Large," was published in Crime Cases 25 (Nov/50)—from Timely/Atlas/Marvel.
Friday, July 15, 2016
A Curt Swan Crime Story with a Tiny Difference
Curt Swan was a mainstay at DC for some four decades. Along with his superhero and war strips for them in the early Fifties, Curt Swan worked on the company's Gangbusters and other crime features.
But this Swan-pencilled story, "Killer at Large," was published in Crime Cases 25 (Nov/50)—from Timely/Atlas/Marvel.
But this Swan-pencilled story, "Killer at Large," was published in Crime Cases 25 (Nov/50)—from Timely/Atlas/Marvel.
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As far as I knew (and I have been a Curt Swan and mainly DC fan since the 1970s) Swan had only ever worked for National/DC!
ReplyDeleteGreat detective work, Martin!
He must have been really mad at Mort Weisinger that week.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, Curt Swan did have an exclusive contract with DC later--but that would have been after artists started getting more recognition and he was associated so strongly with Superman.
ReplyDeleteSwan didn't have an exclusive deal with DC until the late sixties. For a long time, no freelancer did until Irv Novick got one. Then others followed.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I see portions of this page that remind me of Swan but not enough to feel sure it's him.
And this was the page where I couldn't see anyone but Swan in every panel's figures and layouts. The inking, as happened too often with Swan, doesn't do the penciller any favors--on pages with close-ups the faces are distractingly buried under someone else’s style, like the one in the foreground of the fifth panel here.
ReplyDeleteI might easily be wrong but my understanding is Harry Donenfeld was doing contracts with Bob Kane along with Jerry & Joe by 1939. In 1942 Simon & Kirby signed a 50-50 profit split contract with Donenfeld which saw Boy Commandos 1 and 2 sell a million copies each. As far as I can figure out S&K were the first creators - that I know of - who were advertised in Donenfeld Comics (aka DC) as the only reason needed to purchase a comic book. Then both Jack & Joe were drafted.....
ReplyDeleteMartin,
ReplyDeleteLike Mark, I'm uncertain if this is Swan. Jim V. believes the art is by Dick Rockwell. Having looked at some of his work in this period I do see clear similarities with Rockwell's work, but I'n not 100% certain either way.
Nick, I had seen that suggestion of Dick Rockwell in the GCD before I posted. Now I've looked up a signed Rockwell story from 1952--the backup "Who Goes There?" in Combat Kelly 2--and, even taking into account the differences in inking, I don’t see the slightest resemblance between the art in that story and this one. Rockwell's figures there remind me of Gerald McCann's or end-of-his-career Reed Crandall's.
ReplyDeleteI love Best Crime Fiction Novels and adventure story comic books, as these stories don’t give away the real plot till the last and the reader keeps gasping and craving for more of it.
ReplyDelete