Web surfing recently, I came across some James Bama artwork. Bama drew paperback covers for the reissue of the Doc Savage series. Doc was a pulp character from the 1930s: scientist, genius, strong man, all-around fighter of evil. As a kid in the mid-1960s when Doc reappeared, I was drawn to the books through Bama's art. My favorite illustration was the cover of "The Mystic Mullah." The light source is spooky green as Doc winds up to chuck a hand grenade at a huge, looming, Fu Manchu face. As for the story itself, I don’t recall much. No grenades or oversized mullahs, though I vaguely remember a mystic one. This got me thinking on other books and artists from that time. While Bantam was putting out Doc Savage, Warren publications issued two separate black and white horror comics titled, "Creepy" and "Eerie."
I clearly recall C/E stories. Many featured “Twilight Zone” twists: a sinister character messing around with magic, sorcery, the Federal tax code and getting caught in his own schemes. And of course there were plenty of vampire/werewolf/mummy variations plus dinosaurs, not to mention a few sword and sorcery chop-‘em-ups.
More soon.
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