Friday, February 28, 2020

Spy Fighter Written by (Mostly) Robert Bernstein


Spy Fighters 1 'Eaaaa'

Clark Mason, Spy Fighter is a feature at Atlas written, all but two stories, by Robert Bernstein, including the origin in issue 1, "The Snake of Saigon," as seen here (art by George Tuska). The "Eaaaa" was my signal to look for other Bernstein mannerisms among the stories. Remember that he was writing Black Rider for Atlas at the time; there he actually got a number of credit lines thanks to artist Jay Scott Pike.

I can ID a few of the backup stories, ones written by main feature writers Bernstein or Hank Chapman. The one art ID I'll put forth is a story by the "Dinosaur Island" Batman artist, Paul Cooper.

Jumping on the war magazine bandwagon for a while, Clark Mason is in uniform as an Army lieutenant and then a captain, in combat in Korea in #9 through #13.

Clark Mason writers in Spy Fighters

Mar/51–Jul/52 1-9  (all Clark Mason stories) Robert Bernstein
Sep/52 10  P-38 Bernstein
The Vision Hank Chapman
Suicide Flight Bernstein
Nov/     11  (all Clark Mason stories) Bernstein
Jan/53  12  The Silent Death Bernstein
The Strange Enemy Chapman
   Captured! Bernstein
Mar/–Jul/53 13-15 (all Clark Mason stories) Bernstein

Backup stories in Spy Fighters

Sep/51 Deadliest of the Species pencils: Paul Cooper
Nov/     Arsenal for R-Day wr: Bernstein
Mar/52 The Tower of Terror wr: Bernstein
Sep/     10  Secret Weapon wr: Bernstein
Nov/     11  The Destroyer wr: Bernstein
Jan/53  12  The Human Target wr: Chapman

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Morrow After Kirby


Having looked through the Perry Rhodan covers earlier, I didn't make this connection until I was rereading Fantastic Four from the beginning. This Jack Kirby panel is from FF 66 (Sept/67), the first half of the Citadel of Science story that culminated in the revealing of Him. Notice what Gray Morrow used and didn't use in the 1973 A World Gone Mad painting--he incorporated the technician into a shape in the tech.