The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1966: Ghostly Tales #118, November 1975

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Okay, first things first. I chose this comic, amongst the other Charlton horror titles I've pulled, to read today because the character on the front reminds me of Squirrel Girl. Which is appropriate, given that the cover artist helped create her. Many times I'm interested in these old Charlton comics because they feature art from post-Marvel Steve Ditko. That said, his work in this really seems to be phoned in. A mediocre story with some mediocre art, sadly. But there's a silver lining: the issue features the work of Tony Williamsune. Mr. Williamsune is actually Tony Tallarico and Bill Fraccio, an art team who I am absolutely in love with. I illegally posted the story a few years back. I was moving about some books the other night and came across a Lynd Ward-illustrated edition of Frankenstein - I love the aesthetic of a lot of those old wood or lino cut works, and the Williamsune style, as I've said before, reminds me of these kinds of etchings.

I have been finding some of their other work in the collection, though the black and white stuff I've got, mostly in Warren Publishing reprints, isn't quite as enchanting. I don't spend nearly enough time considering the work of a colorist in comics, but I wonder if the reason I like this work so much is because of the choices the colorist made.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project Friday Magazine 1 - Eerie #31, January 1971

I have in the collection a rather large number of comics magazines, ranging from children's superhero stuff to a huge sub-collection of Heavy Metal magazine. I don't think, in most cases, I would have the time to read the whole magazine in one day. They are, by and large, longer than a traditional comic, and, in the case of the more adult-oriented publications, somewhat more complex. Bearing all this in mind, I'm going to start trying to do one a week, much like my graphic novels, and I'll be posting them on Fridays, along with my usual comic.

Today's magazine was selected on the basis of it containing a story pencilled and inked by Tony Williamsune, a gestalt entity made up of Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico. I came across some of their art in romance comic I picked up recently, and their style struck me immediately. Apparently the two worked closely for Warren in their horror magazines and for Charlton in just about all their genres. So far, unfortunately, none of the stories of theirs that I've found in my collection has measured up to that one romance story, though the story in this issue ("The Drop") does contain a bit of their weird, psychedelic strangeness.

This might well be the first Warren horror magazine I've ever read cover to cover. They simply weren't on my radar when I was first collecting comics, and I only have these as they were part and parcel of the collection I bought that included the aforementioned Heavy Metals. The stories were pretty good, for the most part, especially the lead tale, "Point of View," from which the Richard Corben cover is drawn. There was a kind of confusing metafictional tale called "The Alien Plague" that either didn't make sense, or didn't make sense to my tired mind when I read it. But I am looking forward to delving into the magazines I have. I've had them for less time, so they're less familiar to me than the comics in the collection. Can't wait to see what I find!

Onward!

Giant Box of Comics Breaks the Law! - "A Solemn Oath!"

Came across the art of Tony Williamsune in this comic. Williamsune is actually two artists, Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico, and something about their style just captivated me. So I thought I'd share a bit of it. Copyright of course belongs to...well, to whoever owns Charlton's back catalogue now, I guess. If you want me to take it down, just let me know.

And if you're interested in some more of their art, there's another of their stories here, at Four-Color Shadows.

 

 

I'm not sure what it is that draws me to it. The very, very simple colour scheme is wonderfully evocative. And the almost equal amount of shadow makes it seem almost etched. Anyway, I think it's lovely.