The Illustrators of Ted White’s Fantastic

This is “The Illustrators of Ted White’s Fantastic” but it could have been called “How I Learned to Draw in Columns”. Ted White took over the editorship of Fantastic in 1969. He brought with him a cadre of fine artists, many of whom worked in comics and cover painting. This fact meant no matter what Ted published (his budget was quite limited) , it always had a glamour and sophistication that punched way above its weight class.

Stephen Fabian (1930-) is a Fantasy master, his pointillist style illustrating everything from Conan to Jules de Grandin. His influence has been felt in many areas of magazine illustrations.

Mike Hinge (1931-2003) was a Science Fiction illustrator. Admittedly not my favorite of the early illustrators. His work always reminded me of Doodle Arts (a craze of the 1970s). He moved on to Analog where he was much better suited. He would be the artist to illustrate Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game”.

Gray Morrow (1934-2001) was a leftover from the 1960s and Cele Goldsmith’s era. He was welcome because Gray was the master of Science Fiction illustration, doing comics and book covers everywhere.

Billy Graham (1935-1999) was an artist and editor at Warren Publications then as an independent. His version of Conan is boss.

Dave Cockrum (1943-2006) was improving his skills at this time before he would become the penciller for Marvel’s mega-hit, The Uncanny X-Men.

Jeff Catherine Jones (1944-2011) is a painter and drawer on the same level as Frank Frazetta. Jeff transitioned in 1998. She was working on the Fafhrd & Grey Mouser covers at this time and naturally did the illustrations for “The Snow Women” by Fritz Leiber. Along with Mike Kaluta, she was part of The Studio, a commune of Fantasy artists.

Mike Kaluta (1947-) is a favorite I have featured on this blog many times. These images are interesting because they are early work. Mike would go on to draw many of the very best covers for the DC horror comics around this time.

Joe Staton (1948-) was a giant in the small pond of Charlton Comics. He enjoyed drawing Sword & Sorcery occasionally. I have to admit I didn’t care for Joe or Charlton much back-in-the-day–I was a Buscema snob–but he has grown on me over the years. He was always far better than I realized.

Billy Graham

Harry Roland (?-2009) made a splash in Fantastic before moving into Edgar Rice Burroughs illustration.

Other regular artists included Tony Gleeson,  Steve Harper, Michael Nally, Richard Olsen, Laurence Kamp, Marcus Boas, Dan Steffan and John Rodak.

Ted White left after the January 1979 issue. His connections with comic books and their artists served him well in his next job as editor of Heavy Metal magazine. Sadly for Fantastic the budget dropped even lower and the remaining issues were largely marred by inferior illustrations. It would limp along for another year before being absorbed into Amazing Stories.