Art by Earle K. Bergey and Murphy Anderson

DC Comics Versus Pulps Covers

DC Comics spawned some long-running anthology comics in the 1950s including House of Mystery in Horror and Strange Adventures in Science Fiction. The editors of these comics were old Pulpsters like Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger. After stints on PThrilling Wonder Stories and Captain Future, it should be no surprise that stories and artwork at DC were influenced by the early days of SF and Horror Pulps. These men made this connection even stronger when they recruited writers from those same pulps as well. Men like Otto Binder, Edmond Hamilton and Gardner F. Fox. The younger writers and artists who never worked in the Pulps certainly read them as kids, so their influence was inescapable.

Art by Murphy Anderson

Now I’m not suggesting that anyone at DC out-and-out ripped off any earlier works. This is more of an influence kind of thing. The DC writers took old ideas and played with them. Take for example, Edmond Hamilton’s “The Comet Peril” from Mystery in Space #2 (June-July 1951). Hamilton had written an SF classic back in 1928 called “The Comet Doom”. He reworked the idea to create a very different story from the same basic idea.

In this same way, the art directors worked with a feel for old Pulp covers, capturing the same excitement that made Pulp art eye-catching. Here are examples that I think are more obviously Pulp-inspired.

Art by Murphy Anderson
Art by Lloyd Rognan
Art by Gil Kane and Bernard Sachs
Art by Howard V. Brown
Art by Gil Kane and Joe Giella
Art by Frank R. Paul
Art by Murphy Anderson
Art by Frank R. Paul
Art by Dick Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff
Art by Earle K. Bergey
Art by Murphy Anderson
Art by Howard V. Brown
Art by Ruben Moreira
Art by Dick Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff
Art by Bob Brown
Art by Charles Schneeman
Art by Dick Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff
Art by Frank R. Paul
Art by Murphy Anderson
Art by Howard V. Brown
Art by Dick Dillin and Sheldon Moldoff
Art by H. w. Wesso
Art by Win Mortimer and Charles Paris
Art by Margaret Brundage
Art by Margaret Brundage
Art by Gil Kane and Joe Giella
Art by Howard V. Brown
Artist unknown
Art by Bob Brown
Art by Lawrence Sterne
Art by Gil Kane
Art by Earle K. Bergey
Artist unknown

Here we have a switch, a magazine coming after the comic book. House of Mystery #44 was dated November 1955 and “A Bit of the Dark World” in Fantastic appeared in February 1962. House of Mystery #48 was March 1956 and “The Mummy takes a Wife” in Fantastic was December 1956. (Had Robert Silverberg read that issue of House of Mystery?)

Art by Ruben Moreira
Art by Leo Summers
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Art by Bill Ely
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is fantastic_195612.jpg
Art by Edward Valigursky

 

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2 Comments Posted

  1. GW Thomas, a provocative collection of images, demonstrating comic’s frequent reference to pioneering pulp cover artists. Your thoughtfulness to make clear artist attributions is appreciated. As a scholar of pulp history and authority on pulp art including that of my paternal grandfather, Earle K. Bergey, I can resolve a few of mysteries and offer one correction…

    Howard V. Brown painted the October 1938 cover of Thrilling Wonder Stories (red background, your 31st image); Brown’s original painting survives as part of the Robert Lesser Collection at the New Britain Museum of American Art in CT. However, the October 1940 cover of Thrilling Wonder Stories (green background, your 30th image), which you credit to Brown, is actually by Earle K. Bergey. Illustrating “Colussus from Space” by Oscar J. Friend, who wrote under the pseudonym Frank Johnson, this painting is Bergey’s second cover for TWS, produced at the same time that he is painting his first covers for Captain Future, hence the direct visual parallels. Finally, the last Thrilling Wonder Stories cover you picture, dated January 1951, is also by Bergey, the 52nd cover (imagine) that he painted for this title.

    Also, I find your first pairing of images exciting and helpful. Bergey’s “Save Earth” cover, one of my favorites, was also printed on foreign magazines; on one contemporaneous example, Bergey’s “Save Earth” is replaced by “S.O.S.” So you’re onto something quite literally. Whether a partial “swipe” or direct inspiration, given the context, my grandfather would have been flattered. Looking forward to more of your posts!

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