Pulp Artists in the Comics are always a treat to me. After seeing them in Weird Tales or Amazing Stories, it’s fun to see their later work in Planet Comics or a whole host of DC titles. As the Pulps drew to a close, the artists who illustrated them had to find other work. For some this meant moving over to newspaper or book illustration. A lucky few, like Lee Brown Coye, were able enter the world of fine arts. But for many, the obvious path was to jump from the Pulp titles of the companies they worked for to their comic lines.
Here are some of the artists I recognized from both publishing arenas. I have arranged them by birth year to show the transition of the publishing industry. I am sure there are many I did not list.
Arthur Jameson (1872-1957) had a classic look that worked well in fairy tale comics.
Harry Parkhurst (1876-1962) got his start in book illustration. He did the cover for Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s Guest (1912). His comics have a classic look like Arthur Jameson.
Charles Coll (1889-1949) was one of Jack Binder’s studio artists. He worked on both Doc Savage Comics and The Shadow.
H. C. Kiefer (1890-1957) was one of the better artists to work on Classics Illustrated and Doc Savage Comics.
Rex Maxon (1892-1973) is best remembered for his Tarzan comic strip in 1947. He worked on plenty of cowboy pulps before working at Dell Comics.
Joseph Doolin (1896-1967) is probably my favorite of all these dual artists. His illustrations were highly sought after by Pulp publishers. Thank goodness he worked for Weird Tales occasionally. His illos for The Devil’s Bride by Seabury Quinn are tops. He went on to become one of the best cover artists for Fiction House as Joe Doolin.
Leo Morey (1899-1965) is one of those artists who are best remembered as Pulp illustrators. For ten years he was the look of Amazing Stories, during T. O’Connor Sloane’s reign. He did work in comics but is little remembered.
Jack Binder (1902-1986) was a busy man. He did Pulp illustration as well as some of the first SF comics in Thrilling Wonder Stories. He ran his own studio from 1940 to 1943. Later he would work for DC Comics as the artist of his brother Otto’s Mary Marvel comics.
Max Plaisted (1902-1956) surprised me. I always thought he was a pseudonym of Jack Binder’s. Turns out he was a different guy. He drew comics for Pulps in an experimental age in the 1930s including Zarnak and Diane Daw. He was the creator of Ace Buckley for Startling Comics, and Space Rovers for Exciting Comics.
George Wilson (1902-1970) is a star of Dell and Gold Key comics as a cover artist. He got his start in the Pulps and drew comics for years before settling down to do covers.
Jon Blummer (1904-1955) started in the Pulps before doing comic strips like The Lone Ranger. He later became one of the best of the early comic artists.
Alex Schomberg (1905-1998) has had many careers, first as a Science Fiction Pulp artists, then a comic book cover artists and finally as an illustrator for SF magazines. He worked on comics like Startling Comics as Xela.
Matt Fox (1906-1988) was an artist with a recognizable style. His odd look was perfect for Weird Tales and later for the Horror comics.
Vincent Napoli (1907-1981) was one of the more realistic artists at Weird Tales and other SF Pulps. His best work in comics was an adaptation of Haggard’s She.
Rafael Astarita (1912-1994) worked on the Street & Smith Doc Savage Comics and had his own studio in the late 1950s. He worked on sets for TV shows such as Tom Corbett Space Cadet.
Fred Guardineer (1913-2002) was a successful Pulp illustrator and comic book artist. He moved freely between them and newspaper work. He worked on the first Horror comics at ACG.
Peter Constanza (1913-1984) worked on Classic Illustrated and freelanced Pulp illos at the same time.
Will Ely (1913-1993) illustrated adventure Pulps before working in comics. He drew for most of the companies: DC, Marvel, Dell, Centaur, Fiction House, Ziff-Davis, Hillman and Charlton.
Charles Sultan (1913-1984) worked in the adventure and detective Pulps before drawing comics in the same vein. He later became a magazine editor.
Virgil Finlay (1914-1971) is probably the most famous of all the SF illustrators. For a brief time he dabbled in comics before returning to magazine and book illustrating. For the comics of Virgil Finlay go here.
George Klein (1915-1969) began in the Pulps but is best remembered in his comic days as an inker at DC and Marvel.
Gerald McCann (1916-1995) drew for the sports and Western Pulps. Later he worked in educational comics and did covers for Classics Illustrated.
Max Elkan (1918-2000) was one of the artists who worked in Pulps and comics at the same time. He drew for Fiction House, Fawcett, and Quality Comics.
John Forte Jr. (1918-1966) began in the lesser paying SF magazines like Science Fiction Quarterly but moved onto detective Pulps. He had a comic strip called South Sea Girl then later went on to work for all the big comic companies.
John Giunta (1920-1970) began his career in the SF fanzines before moving onto SF Pulps. His comics career includes drawing Gardner F. Fox’s first Sword & Sorcery comic, Crom the Barbarian in 1950.
Bob Lubbers (1922-2017) did some illustrations for the Pulps like Planet Stories then onto comics. His big break came in 1950 when he became the artist for the Tarzan comic strip and later The Saint. He ended his career working for DC and briefly for Marvel.
Leo Summers (1925-1985) started his career drawing for the Ziff-Davis Pulps and continued with them after the Pulps became digest magazines. His comic work was in the 1960s for Warren’s Horror magazines and Bomba the Jungle Boy.
Murphy Anderson (1926-2015) is like most of the artist in this last section. Just old enough to start with Pulp illustration but working mostly in comics. He illustrated fiction in Planet Stories then did comics for Planet Comics. He later became a major artist at DC Comics.
Everett Raymond Kinstler (1926-2019) got his start illustrating Doc Savage magazine then did work for the Avon Pulps. This connection lead to him doing covers for Avon paperbacks. In the 1950s he drew comics for Dell Comics, Fawcett Comics, DC Comics, Ziff-Davis Comics, and Atlas Comics.
Wally Wood (1927-1981) was an artist’s artist, doing it all. from magazine illos to comics to weird products like Wacky Packages. He is best remembered in the comics world as an EC Comics artist as well as an independent publisher.
Conclusion
Pulp Artists in the Comics really comes as no surprise. Who better to work in the many-paneled industry of comic book creation? A good Pulp artist is used to working in black and white, drawing heroic figures and action. Not to mention weird creatures and fantastic vista. The editors of comics had come from the Pulps (people like Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz at DC) and knew these artists from their early work. The legacy of the Pulps is clearly seen in comics published by Pulp publishers, edited by Pulp editors, written by Pulp writers (like Otto Binder and Edmond Hamilton) and drawn by Pulp artists. The transition from one medium to the other is a logical part of that change.
