tilliban and the German collectors uploads

[Yoc]

Now up, thanks very much T!

[JVJ (RIP)]

You're welcome, tilliban,
PS, even at the Elements level, is a pretty neat program. Glad to help.

Now I'd beg to differ with you about Baffling Mysteries #5. It's got Mike Sekowsky, Ken Rice and even Gene Colan. Granted, not the best work any of these men did, but nothing to sneeze at, either.

(|:{>

[tilliban]

Hot patootie!

You know the artists of ACE magazines?!
Grand Comic Database knows next to nothing.
I've been trying to crack this tough nut - and indexed BAFFLING #5 with a George Appel story.
Am I wrong about that?
Please tell me, which stories from #5 are Rice / Colan / Sekowsky.
I wanna learn to identify ACE artists.

I bow to the wisdom of one the greatest art spotters in comic history.
Yours very truly
T.

[JVJ (RIP)]

Hot patootie!

You know the artists of ACE magazines?!

Yes, tilliban, I know most of them.

Grand Comic Database knows next to nothing.
I've been trying to crack this tough nut - and indexed BAFFLING #5 with a George Appel story.
Am I wrong about that?

Appel is definitely involved. I tend to think of this style and "Guttwirth/Appel" as both seem to be there. Who's doing what? I can't say.

Please tell me, which stories from #5 are Rice / Colan / Sekowsky.
I wanna learn to identify ACE artists.

First story is Sekowsky inked by either (or both) Vince Alascia or Jim McLaughlin.
Second story is Guttwirth/Appel
Third is Ken Rice - a great artist who worked primarily for Ace and is often mistaken for Lou Cameron.
Last story is Gene Colan inked by ?

I don't know who does the two fillers. They are reminiscent of Sol Brodsky a bit.

I bow to the wisdom of one the greatest art spotters in comic history.
Yours very truly
T.

Feel free to tone it down a bit. I'm just a guy with a knack. I studied at the feet of Hames Ware and Jerry Bails and learned from lots of other guys. The biggest hurdle to learning how to ID artists used to be getting a chance to see the comics. Now you've got access to tons of them, as well as a Who's Who and the GCD. Start learning. You don't need me nearly as much as you might think.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[tilliban]

Dear Jim,
Thank you very mucho for your info concerning BAFFLING #5.
Uploading now

BEYOND #5.

Using your tutorial I would say:
DEMONS OF WALPURGIS MOUNTAIN (last) should be Sekowsky.
ENIGMA OF THE UNSCHEDULED PASSANGER (third) eludes me – any ideas?
THE FRENZY OF SHEILA LORD (second) is one of those rare Gutwirth/Appel concoctions again.
BIG TOP NIGHTMARE (first) looks familiar, (from ACE-story “When Black Wings flap” in BAFFLING#9) can’t put a name on it.
By the way: Ken Rice is very good indeed – and I would never confuse him with Lou Cameron.
; -)

All stories from Beyond#5 are quite nice. My favourite is “Demons” though, located again in a German/Austrian village where people have names like “Eric”, “Hans”, “Fritz”, “Karl” and “Bertha”. Which is allright, by the way. But do they have to have family names like “Zwiebelbart” (Onion beard)? And must that village be named “Grausam” – which means nothing less than “cruel”. Sets the right tone for the whole piece…

[Yoc]

Thanks very much T, the book is now on the site.

[JVJ (RIP)]

Tilliban:
BIG TOP NIGHTMARE (first) looks familiar, (from ACE-story “When Black Wings flap” in BAFFLING#9) can’t put a name on it. Lin Streeter
TRUE TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL #1 - Frank Giusto (?) inked by Vince Alascia.
THE FRENZY OF SHEILA LORD (second) is one of those rare Gutwirth/Appel concoctions again.
TRUE TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL #2 - Vince Alascia.
ENIGMA OF THE UNSCHEDULED PASSENGER (third) eludes me – any ideas? - Richard Case
DEMONS OF WALPURGIS MOUNTAIN (last) should be Sekowsky.

FWIW.
(|:{>

[tilliban]

Huzzah and Thank you again.
Will be pestering you some more next month with more stuff from ACE!
Upcoming will be another issue of BEYOND and two more HAND OF FATE.
When I get them scanned, of course.
Next week: a quality surprise...

[Yoc]

Loving these horror issues T, thanks very much for sharing them!

[tilliban]

Dear DCM-Gang!

I wanna delve big-time into the horror comic books from the house of ACE.
Do some research about this company.
Does anyone know if there's any kind of information ever been published?
Articles in ALTER EGOs, PRICE GUIDES, COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACES or other magazines?
As you well know I live in a land far far away (Germany) and I really have no clue...

Relies on your abundant knowledge:
Tilliban

[josemas]

From 1989-1993 New England Comics Press published 11 issues of a title called Tales Too Terrible to Tell (and then Terrology for the final two issues).  It mostly reprinted, in black and white, pre-code horror stories but there was also a serialized history of pre-code horror comics by editor George Suarez that ran in every issue.  The first three issues were a general history with lots of facts and figures and then he started tackling the various publishers in more detail with one or two examined each issue.  Unfortunately he never got around to Ace before the title was cancelled.  The whole series was supposed to be eventually collected in book form but as far as I know nothing ever came of it. 
I know that a few years ago Roy Thomas was trying to track George down to see if he would be willing to reprint/finish his pre-code horror history in Alter Ego but again nothing seemed to have come of that.
Even though he never apparently finished the history those TTTTT books are worth tracking down (I believe that they are all still available from New England Comics-- for less than cover price!!) and reading for what information he did put out there.  I occasionally see his work referenced by some of the bloggers who touch on pre-code horror comics.

A couple of interesting Ace facts I can throw your way from George's facts and figures is that Ace was the third most prolific pre-code horror publisher with a total of 97 comics (well behind Atlas-399 and ACG-123 and narrowly beating out Harvey-96 and EC-91). Another fact was that Ace was the sixth publisher to jump on the pre-code horror bandwagon (behind Avon, ACG, Atlas, EC and Fox) with their first title coming out in September 1950 (the majority of publishers started publishing horror titles in 1951 or 1952). 

The only other book that I can think of off the top of my head that might help you is Mike Benton's The Illustrated History of Horror Comics which had some info the various pre-code horror publishers.  It came out about twenty years ago, IIRC.

Best

Joe

[JVJ (RIP)]

Dear DCM-Gang!

I wanna delve big-time into the horror comic books from the house of ACE.
Do some research about this company.
Does anyone know if there's any kind of information ever been published?
Articles in ALTER EGOs, PRICE GUIDES, COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACES or other magazines?
As you well know I live in a land far far away (Germany) and I really have no clue...

Relies on your abundant knowledge:
Tilliban

Do you ever get to Paris, Tilliban?
I will be there from Sept. 23 through Nov. 7. I can bring my Ace data cards and if you want to schedule a "lesson" I'd be happy to spend a day or two looking through scans and helping you to learn the styles.

Just a thought...

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[Yoc]

Hi T, if you get a chance to visit Jim you'll be in for a treat from all I hear!

I've started a new topic in the links section you might enjoy related to your quest for more historical background info
Check it out here - http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php/topic,2906.0.html

-Yoc

Dear DCM-Gang!

I wanna delve big-time into the horror comic books from the house of ACE.
Do some research about this company.
Does anyone know if there's any kind of information ever been published?
Articles in ALTER EGOs, PRICE GUIDES, COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACES or other magazines?
As you well know I live in a land far far away (Germany) and I really have no clue...

Relies on your abundant knowledge:
Tilliban

[tilliban]

Dear Joe!
Thank you for reminding me about the tales of Mr. Suarez.
I've got them and he never dealt with ACE. Sadly.
But I'll use the information you mentioned.

Dear Jim!
What? You're spending six weeks in Paris?
That's an offer I can't refuse.
Paris is a 4-hour-train-ride from Cologne. Small europe!
I'll start planing and contact you via private mail.

Dear Gang!
My newest upload is now

WEB OF EVIL #19

Enjoy!

[JVJ (RIP)]

Actually it is going to be closer to SEVEN weeks this time, Talliban.
Our apartment is situated about half-way between Gare Saint Lazare and Gare du Nord. Easy bus ride from either and a direct Metro connection from GSL. We'll have to figure out how to meet.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

ps. If anyone is thinking of getting a new box of comics to scan, you've got only three weeks before blast off.