Art in Time: Unknown Comic Book Adventures, 1940-1980 »

Art In Time is a companion to Dan Nadel’s previous book, Art Out of Time. In this engaging and smart volume, Nadel focuses on the lesser-known comic works by celebrated icons of the industry, like H.G. Peter (the artist behind Wonder Woman), John Stanley (the writer and artist for Little Lulu), Harry Lucey (one of the artists behind Archie), Jesse Marsh (the artist for Tarzan), and Bill Everett (best know for his characters Sub Mariner and Dr. Strange).

Art In Time reprints a wonderful selection of complete comic book stories that represent some of the best, but obscure adventure stories from the 1940s through the 1980s. Each comic highlights the fully developed style unique to each artist and celebrate these little known comic gems. Art In Time is designed as a reading book, allowing fans to catch up on some of best, but forgotten, work in comics’ history.
 

Publishers Weekly

This isn't exactly a sequel to Nadel's celebrated 2006 anthology Art Out of Time, but a “companion,” he explains in its introduction. In fact, there seem to be three different collections of comics bypassed by conventional wisdom jostling for room here. One is work by well-known cartoonists in genres outside their specialties (like two horror stories by John Stanley, better known for his work on Little Lulu and other kid-humor comics, and war-comics artist Sam Glanzman's peculiar jungle adventure, “Kona”). Another continues the Art Out of Time project of unearthing forgotten, distinctive pulp-comics stylists. Pete Morisi's Johnny Dynamite noir-PI stories, for instance, are clichéd far past the point of parody, but there's something weirdly compelling about his figures' stiff, pained look, and Pat Boyette's 1967 “Children of Doom” is an intriguing variation on the sci-fi illustration style of its era. A third subset of the book's 14 artists are underground cartoonists with very different aesthetics from the 10-cent adventures they're sandwiched between: Sharon Rudahl, Michael McMillan, Willy Mendes, and John Thompson (a Rick Griffin-inspired psychedelic artist whose tripped-out, classicist Cyclops Comics is the oddest rediscovery). Nadel doesn't quite manage to draw the lines that connect this volume's artists, but he's spotlighted some intriguing work. (May)

Introduction Their World 6

Demand and Supply 9

Harry Lucey 10

H. G. Peter 28

Where They Were Drawing From 59

Sharon Rudahl 60

Mort Meskin 96

Sam J. Glanzman 108

Michael McMillan 142

Pete Morisi 150

It's All in the Routine 165

John Stanley 166

Matt Fox 186

John Thompson 198

Expansive Palettes 217

Pat Boyette 218

Jesse Marsh 244

Bill Everett 278

Willy Mendes 288

Sources 302

Acknowledgments 302