{"id":10924,"date":"2013-09-26T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=10924"},"modified":"2013-09-29T12:54:37","modified_gmt":"2013-09-29T12:54:37","slug":"heroic-tales-the-bill-everett-archives-volume-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2013\/09\/26\/heroic-tales-the-bill-everett-archives-volume-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroic Tales: The Bill Everett Archives volume 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Bill Everett<\/b> and others, edited and complied by Blake Bell (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-60699-600-3<\/p>\n

Thanks to modern technology there is a superabundance of collections featuring the works of too-long ignored founding fathers and lost masters of American comic books. A magnificent case in point is this second superb chronicle revisiting the incredible gifts of one of the greatest draughtsmen and yarn-spinners the industry has ever seen.<\/p>\n

You could save some time and trouble by simply buying the book now rather than waste your valuable off-hours reading my blather, but since I’m keen to carp on anyway feel free to accompany me as I delineate just why this tome needs to join the books on your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153favourites\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shelf.<\/p>\n

He was a direct descendent and namesake of iconoclastic poet and artist William Blake. His tragic life and awe-inspiring body of work – Bill was possibly the most technically accomplished artist in US comicbook industry – reveals how a man of privilege and astonishing pedigree was wracked by illness, an addictive personality (especially alcoholism) and sheer bad luck, nevertheless shaped an art-form and left twin legacies: an incredible body of superlative stories and art, and, more importantly, saved many broken lives saved by becoming a dedicated mentor for Alcoholics Anonymous in his later years.<\/p>\n

William Blake Everett was born in 1917 into a wealthy and prestigious New England family. Bright and precocious, he contracted Tuberculosis when he was twelve and was dispatched to arid Arizona to recuperate.<\/p>\n

Thus began a life-long affair with the cowboy lifestyle: a hard-drinking, smoking, tall-tale telling breed locked in a war against self-destruction, described in the fact-filled, picture-packed Introduction<\/i> by Blake Bell which covers ‘The Early Years of Comics: 1938-1942’<\/i>, ‘The Birth of Marvel Comics’<\/i> and ‘The Comic Book Production System’<\/i>, before ‘The Heroes’<\/i> precedes a full-colour selection of incredible prototypical adventure champions with a brief essay on the set-up of Centaur Comics, Novelty Press, Eastern Color Printing, Hillman and Lev Gleason Publications\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Accompanied by the covers for Amazing Mystery Funnies<\/b> volume 2 #3, 5 and 6 (March, May & June 1939, Centaur) are three outer space exploits of futuristic trouble shooter Skyrocket Steele<\/i>, whilst Tibetan-trained superhero Amazing-Man<\/i> offers a transformative triptych of titanic tales spanning war-torn Europe, augmented by the covers to Amazing-Man Comics<\/b> #9-11 February-April 1940.<\/p>\n

Everett’s deeply held western dreams are covered next with a brace of rootin’ tootin’ yarns starring Bull’s-Eye Bill<\/i> from Novelty Press’ Target Comics<\/b> #3-4 (April & May 1940) whilst from #7-9 (August-October 1940), the author smoothly switched to sophisticated suspense with master of disguise The Chameleon<\/i> crushing contemporary criminals in scintillating escapades from Target Comics’ answer to The Saint<\/b>, the Falcon<\/b> and the Lone Wolf<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Thanks to his breakthrough Sub-Mariner<\/b> sagas Everett was inextricably linked to water-based action, and Eastern Comics hired him to create human waterspout Bob Blake<\/i>, Hydroman<\/i> for the bimonthly Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics<\/b>. <\/b>Here, spanning issues # 6-9 (May-November 1941, with the covers for #6 and 7), are four spectacular, eerie, offbeat exploits, covering an extended battle against foreign spies and American Fifth Columnists, after which Red Reed in the Americas!<\/i> (created by Bob Davis & Fitz) offers the first two chapters in a political thriller wherein a college student and his pals head South of the Border to fight Nazi-backed sedition and tyranny in a stunning tour de force first seen in Lev Gleason’s Silver Streak Comics<\/b> #20 & 21 (April & May 1942).<\/p>\n

A section of Miscellaneous<\/i> and text illustrations follows, blending Western spot drawings with the eye-catching covers from Amazing Mystery Funnies<\/b> volume 2 #18, Target Comics<\/b> #5 and 6, Blue Bolt<\/b> (vol. 1 #11, vol. 2 #1, 2 and 3) and Famous Funnies<\/b> #85.<\/p>\n

The Humorous and More<\/i> describes Everett’s forays into other markets: niche sectors such as licensed comics, comedy and romance, and even returns to pulp and magazine illustration as he strove to stay one step ahead of a constantly shifting market and his own growing reputation for binges and unreliability.<\/p>\n

‘What’s With the Crosbys?’<\/i> is a superbly rendered gossip strip from Famous Stars<\/b> #2 (1950, Ziff-Davis) whilst a stunning monochrome girly-pin-up of ‘Snafu’s Lovely Ladies’ <\/i>(from Snafu<\/b> #3 Marvel, March 1956), and the cover of Adventures of the Big Boy<\/b> #1 (also Marvel, from the same month) lead into the Back Cover of Cracked<\/b> #6 (December 1958, Major Magazines) and other visual features from the Mad<\/b> imitator as well as <\/b>the colour cover to less successful rip-off Zany<\/b> (#3, from March 1959).<\/p>\n

Everett’s staggering ability to draw beautiful women plays well in the complete romance strip ‘Love Knows No Rules’<\/i> (Personal Love<\/b> #24, November 1953 Eastern Color), and this section concludes with a gritty black and white title page piece from combat pulp War Stories<\/b> #1, courtesy of Marvel’s parent company Magazine Management, September 1952.<\/p>\n

The Horror<\/i> concentrates on the post-superhero passion for scary stories: an arena where Bill Everett absolutely shone like a diamond. For over a decade he brought a sheen of irresistible quality to the generally second-rate chillers Timely\/Atlas\/Marvel generated in competition with genre front-runners EC Comics. It’s easy to see how they could compete and even outlive their gritty, gore-soaked competitor, with such lush and lurid examples of covers and chillingly beautiful interior pages\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Following a third informative background essay detailing his life until its cruelly early end in 1973, a choice selection of his least known and celebrated efforts opens with tale of terror ‘Hangman’s House’<\/i> (Suspense<\/b> #5, November, 1950): a grim confrontation with Satanic evil, followed by futuristic Cold War shocker ‘I Deal With Murder!’<\/i> <\/b>and a visit to a dark carnival of purely human wickedness in ‘Felix the Great’<\/i> <\/b>(both culled from Suspense<\/b> #6, January 1951).<\/p>\n

Adventures into Weird Worlds<\/b> #4 (Spring 1952) offered a laconic, sardonic glimpse into ‘The Face of Death’<\/i>, whilst from the next issue (April 1952) ‘Don’t Bury Me Deep’<\/i> tapped untold depths of tension in a moodily mordant exploration of fear and premature burial. Hard on the heels of the cover to Journey Into Unknown Worlds<\/b> #14 (December 1952) comes one of its interior shockers as ‘The Scarecrow’<\/i> helped an aged couple solve their mortgage problems in a most unusual manner.<\/p>\n

The Marvel madness then concludes with a cautionary tale of ‘That Crazy Car’<\/i> from Journey into Mystery<\/b> #20, December 1954, concluding a far too brief sojourn amidst arguably Everest’s most accomplished works and most professionally adept period.<\/p>\n

This magnificent collection ends with a gallery of pages and one complete tale from the end of his career; selected from an even more uninhibited publisher attempting to cash in on the adult horror market opened by Warren Publishing with Eerie<\/b>, Creepy<\/b> and Vampirella<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Skywald was formed by industry veteran Israel Waldman and Everett’s old friend Sol Brodsky, tapping into the burgeoning black and white market with mature-reader and supernatural magazines Hell-Rider<\/b>, Crime Machine<\/b>, Nightmare<\/b>, Psycho<\/b> and Scream<\/b>. Offered an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Everett produced incredible pin-ups (included here are three from Nightmare<\/b> (#1, 2 & 4, December 1970-June 1971), ‘A Psycho Scene’<\/i> (Psycho<\/b> #5, November, 1971) a stunning werewolf pin-up from Psycho<\/b> #6 and one of revived Golden Age monstrosity ‘The Heap’<\/i> from Psycho<\/b> #4.<\/p>\n

Most welcome, however, is a magnificent 10-page monochrome masterpiece of gothic mystery ‘The Man Who Stole Eternity’<\/i> from Psycho<\/b> #3, May, 1971.<\/p>\n

Although telling, even revelatory and concluding in a happy ending of sorts, what this book really celebrates is not the life but the astounding versatility of Bill Everett. A gifted, driven man, he was a born storyteller with the unparalleled ability to make all his imaginary worlds hyper-real; and for nearly five decades his incredible art and wondrous stories enthralled and enchanted everybody lucky enough to read them.<\/p>\n