Maurice Bramley

There are plenty of twists and turns on the road of comic books and their history, many of which are both unusual and fascinating. For instance take Maurice Bramley, a name I suspect few recognize. His involvement drawing Marvel characters is largely unknown because he worked for an Australian company, Horwitz, in the 1950s and 1960s, pencilling many covers based on the originals by artists like John Severin and Jack Kirby. Horvitz reprinted stories of Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Ringo Kid and Apache Kid, as well as war and superhero stories, and reprinted other companies work as well. For a more detailed history of Howvitz, accompanied by examples of many Bramley covers, please go to this wonderful site:

         http://www.ausreprints.com/content/?skin=14685

While Bramley was often reworking the original covers, unlike artists that copy the styles of those artists, he brings a personality of his own to the artwork. Bramley's work has a distinct charm and he reinterpets many cover scenes with a decided flair. Bramley was not a young kid breaking into comics, indeed, he had worked in commerical art and magazine illustration for years before he drew any comic books. To learn more about Bramley, go here:

    http://www.ausreprints.com/content/?skin=14685

Horwitz appears to have ended publication in 1965, so many of the later Marvel Super Hero stories were not printed there, but they did reprint early issues of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Human Torch, Daredevil and Ant-Man. Its interesting to see Bramley's interpretations of the characters. There is an old world charm to his art and it fits well with the odd conglomeration of heroes.

Maurice Bramley's cover for Daredevil # 1, Horwitz, 1965. Based on the original by Jack Kirby and Bill Everett. While closely resembling the Kirby/Everett DD figure there are enough touches to make this one interesting on its own, including the boxing scene added in the lower left hand corner.

Not only did Branley draw covers for Horvitz, he also pencilled new stories as fillers in the interior. Unfortunately none featured Marvel characters, although I would have liked to see him working on a Human Torch or Ant-Man tale.

Maurice Bramley's cover to Two-Gun Kid # 40, Horwitz, signed in the lower right hand corner.

 In researching Bramley and Horwitz publishing, I discovered Danny Best wrote about him in detail on his blog some years ago, so I bow to his greater knowledge in this area and point you to those posts:

http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2006/08/aussie-marvels-horwitz-and-maurice.html

http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2006/10/maurice-bramley-part-iii.html

http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2006/11/maurice-bramley-john-dixon-keith.html

http://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2006/10/maurice-bramley-part-iii.html

A talented artist who did exciting work outside of comics, Bramley transitioned into the business, bringing an unusual style and quality to his work. Bramley is another fascinating piece of the comic book puzzle, one that continues to unearth new areas of exploration.     

Marvel's Western House Ads

While the Marvel westerns became increasingly marginalized as the 1960s wore on, early on they were quite popular and while Lee never featured any cross-overs (there were requests from time to time in the letters page to have a time travel story) they were still strongly linked with the Marvel Superhero line.

The Marvel brand name continued to grow in the early to mid-1960s, and the western "Big 3" of Kid Colt Outlaw, Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid were part of that advertising. Full page ads for Fantastic Four or Amazing Spider-Man were scattered throughout the line, along with ads for the latest westerns. Stan Lee was still writing some of the westerns in 1965, but began relinquishing thes duties to Larry Lieber, Al Hartley, Roy Thomas, Denny O'Neil and Steve Skeates. In late 1964 the western's also received their own letters pages.

Kid Colt's first letters page, including a short lived western checklist, from Kid Colt Outlaw # 120, January 1965.

Like the superhero line, Lee also used full page ads to promote the western heroes. 

Ad from Two-Gun Kid # 75, May 1965

Ad from Kid Colt Outlaw # 130, Sept 1965. Note Lee's reference to the Marvel Bullpen. Two-Gun and Rawhide Kid images by Kirby/Colletta and Kirby/Ayers; Kid Colt image by sorely missed Joe Maneely.

Ad from Rawhide Kid # 46, June 1965. Carl Hubbell art?

The MMMS house ads were identical to the ones used in the superhero comics, of course substituting the Kid's for the long-underwear types. 

    

Since not all the western heroes had recurring villains a generic owlhoot was used, drawn by Marie Severin. From Kid Colt Outlaw # 124, Sept 1965

Ad from Kid Colt Outlaw # 126, Jan 1966. Kid Colt by Marie Severin.

The very same month Marie Severin's T-Shirt ad featuring the Hulk and Dr. Doom appeared (see my previous blog post) Marie contributed this charming illo of Kid Colt, from issue # 127, March 1966.

I'm curious if the MMMS was either advertised or mentioned in the Girl's titles (Millie the Model, Modeling with Millie, Patsy Walker, Patsy and Hedy). I have some example of those comics, but none with a reference to the club. It should be noted that the paid ads in these comics were usually different that those appearing in the rest of Marvel's line, although house ads for Millie and company still mentioned the Marvel brand and those titles also included letters pages. Any info would be appreciated and updated right here.

I hope you enjoyed this excursion down the dusty western trail.  

  

  

       

More Early Marvel House Ads

We continue with an examination of more early Marvel house ads, including some promoting the MMMS

  

MMMS Ad from Amazing Spider-Man # 25, June 1965. Marie Severin art?

The Merry Marvel Marching Society was a fan club that was hinted at for many months throughout the line, in letters pages and the Special Announcements Section . Stan Lee came up with the idea of a fan club to engender brand loyalty and excitement for the entire line. This was not a new idea, as a little more than a decade earlier, in 1953, EC Comics had the EC Fan-Addict Club.   

  http://www.collectmad.com/collectibles/ecfakit.htm

As you can see, it appears that Lee patterened his club very much after Gaines'. Lee also had an employee who worked for Gaines at the time and likely colored the membership certificate: Marie Severin. Severin contributed to this club as well, drawing some of the material in the stationery kit that would be sent out to members. Marie recalled drawing the E. Pluribis Marvel Seal and likely drew the Hulk on the skratch pads. Marie also did some of the art in the full page ads that appeared in most Marvel comics in 1965 and 1966.     

From Amazing Spider-Man # 26, July 1965. Carl Hubbell art?

Marie was likely not the only artist who worked on the ads. While some ads employed stats from the regular series artists, others used new art based on artists such as Kirby and Ditko. Carl Hubbell, an artist who had worked at St. John Publishing, spent some time inking at Marvel in this period, mainly on Sgt. Fury and Rawhide Kid, and reportedly assisted on staff for a short time. Jameson's face, although based on a Ditko drawing, looks like it may be drawn by Hubbell. Incidentally, according to Roy Thomas, Hubbell was the artist who redrew a Ditko Spider-Man figure, changing him to the Looter in one panel of Amazing Spider-Man # 36, at the request of Lee.

Ad from Amazing Spider-Man # 27, Aug 1965. Marie Severin art?

Not only was Lee advertising the MMMS, he was also hawking a line of Tee-shirts featuring the Marvel heroes, with art by Kirby and Ditko (even the western heroes Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid recieved a tee-shirt, albeit a shared one). I always liked the line: "If you're unpopular..if you're unsuccessful..these won't help!" Every ad also featured the names of 25 different fans. Was YOUR name printed?

The Green Goblin figure, based on a Ditko drawing, looks like Marie's work.  

Ad from Fantastic Four # 39, June 1965. Brodsky art?

Brodsky may have drawn the Thing figure above. It doesn't look like Marie's work and it's definitely not a Kirby figure. It could be someone else, including Carl Hubbell, but I'm not certain.

Ad from Fantastic Four # 40, July 1965

I'm also unsure of the artist who drew Sue Storm. Something about the inking reminds me of Carl Hubbell, although its only a guess. 

Ad from Fantastic Four # 43, Oct 1965. Severin art ?

The drawing of the Torch looks like the work of Marie Severin, based on a Kirby drawing. The hand in particular has a very Severin feel.

Ad from Fantastic Four # 46, March 1966, Marie Severin story and art, with Kirby, Powell and Esposito Hulk.

Finally we come to the above ad that Roy Thomas recalled in an interview conducted by Dewey Cassell in his excellent new book, Marie Severin The Mirthful Mistress of Comics. Roy has this to say:

"Well, there's this ad with the Hulk and Dr. Doom that appears in one of the books, and as its printed, it has some drawings laid out by Kirby and I guess, finished up by Mike Esposito, at least as far as the Hulk, and the Doctor Doom figure is by Marie. But Marie had just been playing around and did this cartoon, even wrote it, basically, and most of her writing stayed, with a little editing from Stan in the printed ad.....and Stan, finally, at the last minute, decided he wanted the Hulk to look a little more like he did in the comic, so he changed him and left Doctor Doom, as I said. But I think it was that page. There may have been something else, too, but it was a page like that Martin Goodma saw that  made him tell Stan "She should be drawing some of the comics"... "    

Roy was correct about the ad. The Hulk figure was a stat from a recent Tales to Astonish story. It was laid out by Kirby, although Mike Espoito inked it over Bob Powell pencils. However, Marie's original version DID make it in print!

Ad from Amazing Spider-Man # 34, March 1966. Marie Severin's original version.

Somehow or other Marie's original version WAS published, in Amazing Spider-Man # 34. Checking through my collection, which includes all the hero titles, as well as Sgt. Fury (some titles did not include the ad), it appears that all the other ads used the Hulk stat. Apparently Lee or production man Sol Brodsky overlooked that one book and included Marie's version. Whatever the case, Marie did a fine and funny job on that ad, and Martin Goodman took note, leading to some outstanding work by her on features such as Sub-Mariner, Kull, Not Brand Echh, and, yes, the Hulk! 

Marie is a tremendous talent and deserves a post all her own, but I found this little surprise worth noting as I perused Marvel's house ads.    

        

  

Early Marvel House Ads

My indexing for the Grand Comic Book Database often leads to interesting roads. I've been adding lettering and coloring credits to Marvel’s titles, circa late 1950’s through the 1970’s. While going over some early Amazing Spider-Man interior credits (adding Stan Goldberg’s coloring credit, since he  colored just about all Marvel’s product from the late 1950's to around 1968) I included info on the early letters pages and many of Ditko’s outstanding pin-ups.

One credit I corrected was a house ad in Amazing Spider-Man # 1: “A Personal Message from Spider-Man”, which is actually a personal message from Stan Lee, explaining that a new letters section would soon be appearing.  

"A Personal Message from Spider-Man," Amazing Spider-Man # 1, March 1963, as reprinted in the Marvel Milestone Edition. Art likely by Sol Brodsky. Lee calls for letters and explains why they won't be printed in the 2nd issue. 

The GCD credited Steve Ditko with the art, but that is clearly not the case. I suspect this is drawn by production head Sol Brodsky, although its possible Jack Kirby provided the pencils and Brodsky inked the piece. Ditko never drew Spider-Man with broad shoulders, nor is the mask or webbing accurate. 

This got me thinking about Stan Lee’s house ads and promotional work in Marvel's early hero era (1962-63). which often consisted of crudely lettered (perhaps by Lee himself) copy scrawled on the top and bottom margins of story pages. Lee soon began to take up full pages to announce specific comics or new titles. This was not surprising, since house ads were prolific in the Timely era, also likely written by Lee. In time, though, a narrative was beginning to take shape, and Lee’s enthusiastic writing style and hyperbolic copy set a pace that drew the readers attention.

An early full-page ad for Amazing Adult Fantasy and the Fantastic Four, from Strange Tales # 95, April 1962. This was published at the time FF # 3 was on the stands. Steve Ditko drew the top half; an inventive 3 panel vignette; Kirby drew the bottom half, with inking by Sol Brodsky. Lee bombastically proclaims the two comics: "the greatest new fantasy magazines in the world!." Also worth noting is that Lee made mention of his Amazing Adult Fantasy collaborator on the cover of the selfsame issue:

  

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Lee's ad copy for the Fantastic Four is intriguing. What kid wouldn't be interested in buying it? From Strange Tales # 97, June 1962

Lee singled out Amazing Adult Fantasy in ads that appeared at the end of Ditko-illustrated stories in the fantasy line. AAF was a title Lee apparently had high hopes for. That comic had him working in tandem with Steve Ditko, spotlighting his individualistic style. Alas, AAF failed to sell enough copies to satisfy publisher Martin Goodman, although the last issue featured a character that went on to some degree of notoriety....

Lee scattered these ads for the new Hulk comic throughout his fantasy line. The first two examples are from Strange Tales # 97, June 1962. The last one is from Fantastic Four # 4, May 1962. It's likely that the crudely lettered ones are by Lee himself. The copy that appeared in FF # 3 is by Artie Simek. Sol Brodsky and Flo Steinberg were the extent of Marvel's office staff at this point, so anyone who walked in the door usually pitched in at one time or another.

Lee promoted Amazing Spider-Man # 1 in the letters section of Fantastic Four #12 (March 1963). In the hope of encouraging readers to give Spider-Man a try Lee had the FF make an appearance in that issue. Lee was slowly building a line where characters interacted; not only did the Hulk appear in that selfsame issue of the FF, but in his teen/humor titles, Patsy and Hedy would meet Millie the Model or Linda Carter, Student Nurse. Lee's marketing skills inspired brand recognition - and under one guiding hand it was a success.   

"The Greatest SYMBOLS in Comics" (I always hear a drumroll after I read that line!.). An early Marvel house ad focusing on the superhero features that were growing in both fan interest and, more importantly, sales. Pencils  by Kirby; inks by Sol Brodsky; lettering by Artie Simek and colors almost certainly by Stan Goldberg. The Spider-Man figure appears to be penciled by Kirby and inked by Ditko, similar to - but not the same figure - as his image on the cover of Amazing # 1. 

By the time the above ad appeared in the May 1963 issue of Fantastic Four #14 Lee was hitting his stride. The corner box was a brilliant addition thanks to the always inventive Steve Ditko, who posited that the characters face could by easily identified on newsstand racks that often obscured most of the cover, since the upper left hand space would be noticed. This was applied throughout the line, including the western, romance and teens titles, so publisher Goodman must have approved of the idea as well. Lee now had a company Logo (Marvel Comics Group, a recycled name originally used from time-to-time in 1950's ads); and a distinctive slogan: "The House of Ideas!" Super-heroes were rapidly becoming an essential part of Marvel's line-up and Lee promoted them with authority.       

we'll never know if Lee was two pages short in Fantastic Four #15 (June 1963), and needed to fill-up space, or deliberately used those pages to promote the debut of Sgt. Fury; the next issue AND the Fantastic Four Fan Clubs! Note that Sgt. Fury is promoted as: "In the Fantastic Four style." At this point Lee was aware of Dr. Doom's popularity with fans, and his use of Ant-Man was an attempt to raise awareness (and sales) on the little guy appearing in Tales To Astonish. The Dr. Doom figure, as well as the Torch (who looks very awkward) may be swipes by Sol Brodsky, although Ant-Man may be penciled by Kirby and inked by Brodsky.        

Finally, we have a coming attraction page that appeared in Avengers # 2, November 1963. Bill Everett's creation, Namor, the Sub-Mariner, was a popular character who dated back to Timely's first comic book title, Marvel Comics. After years of being relegated to the dust bin of distant memories, Lee and Kirby revived Namor and made him a recurring threat to the Fantastic Four. He soon rampaged throughout the Marvel line, taking on The Avengers. the Human Torch (in his solo feature in Strange Tales, echoing the battles Sub-Mariner had with the original, android Torch in the 1940s), X-Men and Daredevil. In 1965 Namor's popularity led to a feature role in Tales to Astonish, replacing Giant-Man. Early on, though, Sub-Mariner was a fascinating character whose appearances were often talked-about in fan circles. Jack Kirby pencils; Sol Brodsky inks; Artie Simek lettering.    

Stan Lee's promotional skills continued to improve in the years ahead. The house ads, combined with letters pages, Bullpen Bulletins and the MMMS fan club formed an identity for Marvel - a fresh face among their conservative competition. Coming soon will be a look at some of the MMMS ads, including one written and drawn by Marie Severin which was noticed by Publisher Martin Goodman, leading to her obtaining penciling work at Marvel. 

Barry Smith's uncredited Marvel Art (UPDATE)

Indexing comics for the GCD always turns up some interesting discoveries. While I was adding credits to Nick Fury, Agent of Shield I happened to check the interior to # 10, credited on the splash page to Frank Springer as artist. Over the years I've learned that published credits are not always correct. The credits are lettered in before the comic is inked, so there are instances where the inker who was originally intended to do the job had to bow out at the last moment, or was scheduled on another book that had a deadline. Mark Evanier has noted a number of these instances in his columns, but there are times other information is missing. There may be only one letterer credited, with pages completed by someone else. Occasionally another artist fills in on a few pages, or completes the book. And there are odd instances when only a few panels are done by someone else; perhaps changing a scene for story purposes. Often the original artist was not available to make changes, so a staffer made the correction. In the case of the SHIELD story it appears there was another reason.

On page two of the story, panel one is clearly drawn by Frank Springer (the credited artist), who also drew the splash page. Springer's more naturalistic figures are replaced by work more closely adhering to Jack Kirby's style, with broader and more exaggerated characters. The lettering also changes in panels 2-4. Artie Simek's simple, distinctive style is replaced by a less precise look, the work of staffer Morrie Kuramoto, who was usually called on to do correction work. In panel 4 another letterer takes over, Jean Izzo, the daughter of Artie Simek, who also lettered for Marvel. It's worth noting that Johnny Craig, credited as inker on the splash, also inked the Barry Smith pages. Since the inker is one of the last in the production line, these pages were likely pasted in and included with Craig's other pages.

Page 3 is a complete Smith page, inked by Craig and lettered by Izzo with corrections by Kuramoto. One can see the Kirby-style dynamism that is not part of Springer's work. In fact, Springer was attempting to follow Steranko in panel arrangement and style more than anyone else. Aside from the jagged panels, Smith is copying Kirby more than Steranko on these pages.

Page 4 features Smith art only on the first two panels (or three panels if you include Fury's face as a separate  panel); with perhaps John Romita touching up some figures in panel one. We then segue to the section we left off, with Fury walking through the streets of New York. Springer returns, as does Simek's lettering. 

Nick Fury, Agent of Shield # 10 is cover dated March 1969, which coincides with Barry Smith's first credited work for Marvel in X-Men # 53. The Bullpen Bulletins that month notes:

"Everyone's talking about bashful Barry Smith, the surprising new staffer we just imported from merrie ol' England."

They go on to mention his work on the current X-Men and an upcoming issue of SHIELD. Smith did draw a full issue of SHIELD only two issues later. but was this his first work for Marvel, or were these pages produced later than the X-Men story? Judging from those few pages, I suspect they were drawn after the X-Men. They are certainly crude, but look a bit more confident in presentation. Were these pages a test to see if he could draw SHIELD on a regular basis? Were they purposely inserted into the Springer drawn story?

I went to one of the sources around at the time. Roy Thomas had this to say:

"Afraid I don't recall anything about why Barry would have been called on to draw a couple of pages' worth of that story... but it certainly wouldn't have been just to 'test' him.  It must be that, for whatever reason, Stan (and he would definitely have been the only person to make that decision at that time) must not have liked Springer's depiction of action and tried Barry out on jazzing it up."

I opined that perhaps the two and a half "missing" Springer pages had Fury walking through the streets of Manhattan, lost in thought. When Springer's art resumes, Fury is still outside, so the lack of action may be a possibility. I'l take another look at the later pages to see when any action takes place.      

 It's an interesting mystery, and a little known footnote to the early work of Barry Smith, who would go on to make a name for himself illustrating the adventures of Conan the Barbarian, where his artwork grew into a lush, detailed style that gained deserved attention. Still, his early work had a sense of enthusiasm that translated to the printed page, something that Stan Lee and Roy Thomas recognized from the start.          

To view some of Barry Smith's earliest work. pin-ups published in the British weeklies, go to Kid Robson's site on my blog list.  You won't be disappointed!

    

Ditko's Gwen Stacy

My essay, originally published in Ditkomania # 79, can be read on this wonderful site that I'm proud to be associated with:

http://comicbookcollectorsclub.com/ditkos-gwen-stacy/

Unaltered cover to Modeling with Millie # 45-UPDATE

While re-reading an interview with Stan Goldberg that appeared in Alter Ego # 18, (October 2002) I came across this cover that was reproduced, with commentary likely by Roy Thomas:

Original cover to Modeling with Millie # 45 featuring Stan Goldberg's Millie figure.

                  Printed cover with pasted on Millie figure by Jack Kirby. .

In an email Roy Thomas explained that he never had the Kirby art, which was on an overlay. Roy also found it odd that Kirby did the correction, but as he noted, Stan didn't have many options at the time. Kirby probably happened to be in the office when Stan needed the correction, and Kirby likely knocked it out in the time it took him to light his cigar. Now, it would have been interesting if Ditko had been in the office instead...

You can read more about Millie, Stan G and Jack at my original post:

     http://nick-caputo.blogspot.com/2012/04/kirby-cover-discovery.html