ESOTERIC COMIC ARTIST CARTOONS

In the 1940's and 1950's low page rates and late (or no) payments by unscrupulous publishers forced comic book artists to produce more work outside the industry to make ends meet. Some put their cartooning skills to work and submitted gags to the digest-sized humor magazines that were very popular at the time. Comic strip artists also turned to these "throw-aways" as a quick means to supplement their incomes.

One such outfit was Humorama which accounted for nearly two dozen titles for sale at newsstands drugstores, cigar shops and other outlets. Formed by Martin Goodman in 1938, the line was headed by Goodman's brother Abe. These books used the cheapest newsprint available and were inexpensive to print, providing an additional cash stream that led to the fountain of the Goodman publishing empire.

Virtually all of these types of magazines were aimed at men and contained ample amounts of bawdy humor, risque cartoon gags and saucy pinups that would be obviously considered sexist and misogynistic these days.

What makes the line of Humorama 'zines so remarkable is the number of excellent cartoonists that were found within their pages, many of which are highly regarded today.

The example shown here is just a sample of the esoteric treasures that can be discovered. It also provides an insight of a by-gone era that we will not likely see again.

Lower left cartoon inset by Bill Ward.

Cartoon by renowned good girl artist Bill Wenzel.

Master cartoonist Dan DeCarlo is best known for designing the Archie comics characters that we recognize today. He also co-created SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH, CHERYL BLOSSOM and JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS (the character of Josie was inspired by his wife). His first comic book gig was with Timely/Atlas/Marvel where he worked under Stan Lee. DeCarlo made side money submitting cartoons such as the ones you see below to Martin Goodman's humor magazines for extra cash. True to form, Stan Lee got his cut out off the top! It's not hard to see why DeCarlo is also noted as a premier good girl artist.

Another surprise was seeing this by non other than Don Perlin. Perlin worked for a number of comic book publishers including Fox, Hillman, Stanley Morse and Charlton. He worked full-time for Marvel for nearly 15 years, drawing strips for titles such as DR. STRANGE and WEREWOLF BY NIGHT.

Based on the signature, I suspect this is by the same Jim Mooney who drew comics for DC and Marvel.

Lovers of good girl art will be familiar with Bill Ward whose unforgettable babes were seen in countless humor and men's magazines for years. He started his comic art career at the Jack Binder (brother of Earl and Otto) "comic-packaging" studio and later drew covers and stories at Quality for TORCHY and BLACKHAWK after regular artist Reed Crandall was drafted. Ward drew a sexy secret agent in the series, "The Adventures of Pussycat", and even worked on a few underground comics. Monster fans have seen his work in Globe Communications' CRACKED monster magazines, signing his name "McCartney" in these.

And perhaps the most esoteric (and strangest) of all is this from artist Joseph Krucher. Astute Monster Kids may recognize his unique style depicted here.

Born January 9, 1906, Joseph Howard Krucher studied at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York and began his career writing and illustrating for the pulps in the 1940's, including WEIRD TALES and fanzines (see below). Some of his stories were adapted into radio shows of the time. He is said to have become interested in fantasy after he saw DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN.

In later years, Krucher's illustrations appeared in Charlton's line of monster magazines where he was billed as "The Bela Lugosi of the Brush". A portfolio of his prints was also available for sale.

Examples of Krucher's work for WEIRD TALES:

Let's not forget the cheesecake!

See more of Bill Wards' art HERE.

More to come!

WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES NO. 1

 WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES
No. 1
Editor: Raoul Kasatrovich (pseudonym)
Publication Date: 1962
Publisher: Charlton Publications
Color covers/B&W interior
68 ppg. (including covers)
Cover price: 35 cents



It is an interesting observation that very few of the early monster magazine makers ventured beyond their core publication. While numerous 'zines had their own house monster mail order departments and such, they rarely veered away from their flagship title. Calvin Beck and his CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN, Ron Haydock's and Paul Blaisdell's FANTASTIC MONSTER OF THE FILMS, Russ Jones' MONSTER MANIA and Jim Matthews' MODERN MONSTER, for example, were all "one-man monsters" (or rather, "one-monster men").

The most notable exception was, of course, WARREN PUBLICATIONS, who published not only a wide variety of sideline magazines, but even published paperbacks as well. Another exception was Charlton's MAD MONSTERS and HORROR MONSTERS magazines. Now, Charlton published a full line of comic books and even many other magazines and doubled-up with their two, three-times-a-year monster 'zines, which,  in effect made a single, bi-monthly publication (as there was little difference between the two except for their titles).

In 1962 Charlton published WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES. It seems nobody knows for sure why other than to captialize further on the cash cow of the times called the "monster craze". Perhaps they were testing the Black Lagoon for a third regular title. In any event, it ended up being a one-shot . . . and a half-loaded, squib shot at that.

Never lauded for their quality, Charlton's monster magazines have been somewhat unjustifiably maligned for their shoddiness and shallowness of substance. While fundamentally true, I believe the Charlton monster 'zines had what I call a "savage charm" about them. They are wild, untamed looking things -- and personally, I love 'em for that!


I've never found out who were the mad scientists behind the Charlton monster line. The contents page of WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES offers no further clues to this mystery. The "Somber Staff" in this case was a slight departure from the "Zanzar Quasitoad" name twisting game that went on in the others. Unless there was another house editorial staff that specialized in the Charlton magazine lines, I'm guessing that then Charlton comic book editor Pat Masulli and prolific comics writer Joe Gill were the primary editors.

The magazine itself is a rather dull affair, brightened only by the addition of Joseph Krucher's fantastical illustrations. Joseph Howard Krucher was a pulp artist who also had work published in the legendary WEIRD TALES magazine. Krucher's byline as author appeared in two of the articles in WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES.

The rest of the material is pedestrian, even for those times. We don't see too much more in the way of fresh photos and movie graphics than what we have already partaken in FAMOUS MONSTERS and CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Nevertheless, it was another monster magazine to drool over on the newsstands of the day.

The issue is split evenly between the two title subjects with Krucher's "Casebook of Dr. Baji" quasi-psychological pieces serving as section introductions. There's a I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and THE BRIDES OF DRACULA photo story, a short piece on Bela Lugosi and the usual flotsam and jetsam that were the Charlton monster magazine hallmarks, such as the obligatory "Ghouls and Gags" joke page. There is even a text story, "Night of Terror", by Allan Roderic, surely a pseudonym, and perhaps for Joe Gill.

The issue is marred even further for us Monsterologists by its use not only once but twice, of photos of Boris Karloff as Hyde in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, mistakenly thinking these images to be of a werewolf (or maybe even not caring). Also, in the THE BRIDES OF DRACULA photo story there is included a picture of Christopher Lee from HORROR OF DRACULA that is obviously in error.

In conclusion, WEREWOLVES AND VAMPIRES was a slight departure from the regular monster fare served up by Charlton Publications. Unfortunately, it is fare that one can easily find hard to digest. Outside of Joseph Krucher's illustrations, a slightly above average text story, and the use of a few now-iconic stills, there is little to recommend. The near mint price of $126 that I spotted on one dealer's website seems appropriate, not because of the quality of the publication, but for the uniqueness of a magazine over 40 years old that might still be considered in almost new condition.