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Ace artist \u2013 Lou Cameron<\/p><\/div>\n
Ace just did good work.<\/strong> Their romance, their crime, their horror books were clearly above average and have been nefariously underrated. This website is a first step towards recognition. An appreciation of their writers and artists. ACE HORROR is a tribute to the Ace horror comic books.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s delve right into it \u2013 to prove our main point: Ace excelled with more than solid, sometimes even brilliant, artwork. And not only by their most prominent artist: Lou Cameron.<\/p>\n About 24 artists worked more or less regularly for Ace\u2019s horror books. Some did just 3 stories, some did 13, some did 30 or more. The output of Ace horror lore amounts to a total of 359 stories (101 books, 4 stories in each book, minus 2 from WEB\u2019s last issues who featured only 3 stories, minus 43 reprints).<\/p>\n The most prolific are Lou Cameron, Jim McLaughlin, Ken Rice and Louis Zansky.<\/strong> These four artists grew and developed their fine styles under Ace\u2019s roof. They came aboard early on, stayed until the end and worked not only on the horror titles. It\u2019s a sad footnote of comic history that the avant-garde of Ace left business in 1955. So did fellow colleagues George Appel, Richard Case, Al Eadeh, Maurice Gutwirth, Lin Streeter and Bill Walton. Never drew a comic story again. Not necessarily on voluntary terms. ACE HORROR wants to keep the memory alive and presents wonderful artwork by unduly forgotten artists.<\/strong><\/p>\n But let\u2019sbegin with Ace\u2019s figurehead, their most prominent artist:<\/p>\n \u201cHad he filled the slot at EC that Jack Kamen held, he would be acclaimed to the skies,\u201d says comic historian Hames Ware.<\/p>\n Ace artist \u2013 Jim McLaughlin<\/p><\/div>\n Cameron seems to enter the field in late 1951, doing his first crime and horror stories for Ace. He begins as part of a creative duo: Rocco Mastroserio is his constant partner on inks. His first solo jobs are of a rather crude nature, but no one learns as fast as Cameron. He improves from issue to issue. In 1954 he creates nothing less than breathtaking layouts and graphic visions hardly paralleled in his time<\/strong>. Cameron\u2019s best known works are not his stories for Ace, but probably his contributions to Gilberton\u2019s \u201cClassic Illustrated\u201d series. Such as \u201cThe Time Machine\u201d, \u201cWar Of The Worlds\u201d and \u201cDr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde\u201d.<\/p>\n After ten years as a cartoonist, he laid his brush aside and began a career as a writer of Western novels as well as a biography of Ronald Reagan. His graphic work is only known to insiders. Final word again by Hames Ware: \u201cNo list of comic book artists will ever be complete if the top six artists don\u2019t include Lou Cameron.\u201d<\/p>\n Enters the scene at Ace in mid 1951 and gets to be the main work horse around the company. He\u2019s probably very fast with his pens and brushes, because no one gets assigned as much stories as he does. McLaughlin proves to be an all-rounder, working on crime and horror and even doing many covers. He is easy to spot, because he always draws the same man<\/strong> (see figure above). Ace artist – Louis Zansky<\/p><\/div>\n No wonder this artist has been mistaken for Gene Colan or Bernie Krigstein. There is a \u201eflow\u201c to his illustrations which we have seen in these other masters.<\/p>\n Zansky baffles the beholder with inspired artwork from all of his creative years. I don\u2019t see \u201cphases\u201d in his work, he starts at the top and never comes down.\u00a0 A fascinating artist I never had heard of before I took a look at Ace comic books. Zansky starts out at Gilberton in the mid 1940s and comes over to Ace.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve not yet found the first Zansky Ace story, probably a crime job in 1948. But he stays until the end, he does the last covers Ace will publish. Zansky is the man who turns off the lights. Postscript July 2013:<\/strong> Looks like he did covers for Fox magazines before coming to Ace. You won\u2019t find it on Grand Comics Database (and I didn\u2019t punch it in, cause it\u2019s just a guess), but I\u2019m seeing his dynamic style on many impressive title pages for Fox crime and western books<\/strong> in 1948 and 1949. Ace artist – Ken Rice<\/p><\/div>\n Worked exclusively for Ace from around 1949 to 1955. Underrated and elegant artist, reminds me of Bob Powell (also drawing those round, rosy, well-fed faces). Did he do romance? We haven\u2019t looked into Ace\u2019s many many romance titles yet. One of Ace\u2019s \u201cBig Four\u201d. Not to be confused with early 1940s comic pioneer PIERCE Rice!<\/p>\n Postscript August 2013<\/strong>: Yes, he’s in there as well. But no one has dared to study the dozens and dozens of Ace romance books. Pre-code horror is still the most satisfying genre.<\/p>\n Rice went on to do commercial art for Marsteller Gebhardt & Reed (now Burson-Marsteller), and later went free-lance. His largest and longest customers included Ingersoll Rand, the American Bible Society and how-to books from Reader’s Digest (as his daughter informs us).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ace artist – Mike Sekowsky<\/p><\/div>\n This guy spent decades in the business. He started out when Marvel used to be called Timely and worked on Captain America and The Young Allies. His style is sharp and effective, Sekowsky loves to shift \u201cthe camera\u201d around. Sekowsky\u2019s trademark are little, silhouetted figures in landscapes, often drawn in a slightly abstract way.<\/p>\n He\u2019s difficult to spot, though, because a lot of artists in the early 1950s had that kind of look. Frankly, I sometimes can\u2019t tell a Sekowsky from a Bill Walton or a Ben Brown. From the early ACE-horror books one draftsman stands out who intoxicated his readers with clear and clean lines \u2013 and arranged especially great looking ladies in the foreground of his panels. Ace artist – „Ace Baker“ = Frank Giusto<\/p><\/div>\n „Art spotter“ Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. worked extensively on the phenomenon, but found this artist not to be Matt Baker. Because no other name has surfaced until today, Vadeboncoeur named the unknown master „ACE Baker\u201d. Maybe the Matt Baker biography<\/a> (announced to come forth for over a year and a half, and now finally published!) is capable of shedding some light on this dire matter. Postscript December 2012<\/strong>: I know who’s behind the nickname, but I’ll hold out till I get a copy of that book… Started in pre-code horror books, helped out at Ace and spent the rest of his life with Charlton. He sometimes teamed up with Charles Nicholas, who followed him there. Worked around the industry almost everywhere doing almost everything. Special mention: his \u201csecond\u201d horror career<\/strong> for the infamous Eerie Publications from 1969 on. Stone created extremely gory black-and-white horror stories like \u201cBlood Bath\u201d, \u201cVoodoo Terror\u201d or \u201cThe Slimy Mummy\u201d. Stone\u2019s trademark: the eyebrows, of course. No one else ever came up with the idea to draw eyebrows in a zig-zag. Stone does.<\/p>\n Ace artists \u2013 Bill Molno (left) and Chic Stone (right)<\/p><\/div>\n One of the very few discoveries I can actually claim to myself. Comic history so far credits him only with Ace crime stories in 1949 and some work for Atlas\/ Marvel. Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. told me the name, and I found a signature in one of Ace\u2019s horror yarns. From there on his artwork popped up in over a dozen stories and in almost all of those one-page \u201cfillers\u201d Ace used in its horror comic books. Those alone ran from 1950 to 1955 and amount to a total of nearly 200 pages.<\/p>\n Grudko has to count as a regular Ace staffer. Next to Ace crime he worked on the Ace war titles, too. He is \u2013 let\u2019s be frank \u2013 not that good an artist. But his dark and moody settings blend quite nicely into the Ace horror oeuvre.<\/p>\n One of the unsung veterans in comic book business. Began his run 1940 at Fox and has been all over the place. Mainly remembered as Charlton artist, but worked for almost every publisher in the field. Ace artists \u2013 Sy Grudko (left) and Charles Nicholas (right)<\/p><\/div>\n The \u201cWho\u2019s Who of American Comic Books\u201d doesn\u2019t mention his horror work for Ace, but Streeter contributed a full dozen stories. And they are fun to look at! Postcript March 2015:<\/strong> Being no master of graphic storytelling, Beck didn\u2019t last long in comic book business. Not even a hundred stories have been credited to him (so far!). He produced mostly horror for the usual suspects: Ace, ACG, Story, Atlas\/Marvel and St. John. And that is absolutely his forte! Ace artists \u2013 Lin Streeter (left) and Dick Beck (right)<\/p><\/div>\n Please welcome the next forgotten figure from our fifties horror cabinet. Case has got a slightly awkward style, his trademark are those faces crumpled like raisins. Although he did only six stories for Ace\u2019s horror mags, his name is probably the best known in our line-up of artists. Colan\u2019s body of work is enormous and most impressive. He contributed more horror to Warren\u2019s black and white magazines from the mid-60s on and illustrated Marvel\u2019s entire run of \u201cTomb of Dracula\u201d<\/strong> (1972-1979).<\/p>\n He appeared side-by-side with Louis Zansky in one Ace horror book (BEYOND #17). Ace artists \u2013 Richard Case (left) and Gene Colan (right)<\/p><\/div>\n This double credit indicates ignorance. It\u2019s either one of those two artists who worked in the 1940s comic book industry. Both are hardly documented.<\/p>\n Ace artist \u2013 Maurice Gutwirth (not George Appel)<\/p><\/div>\n Appel is rumored to have been with the Iger studio and having worked for Fiction House mainly. His trace is lost in 1946. Postscript September 2012<\/strong>: After having found a signed Gutwirth story in WINGS COMICS #120 from 1953, I am confident that we can credit all our findings to him. And push Appel out of the picture. Maurice Gutwirth is a veteran from the late 1930s, working all around the industry \u2013 and having contributed to Ace books before (SUPER-MYSTERY COMICS, FOUR FAVORITES). He is a crude artist, drawing distorted faces \u2013 and thus quite fitting for the horror genre.<\/p>\n Postscript September 2013<\/strong>: Gutwirth is often mistaken for 40s crime artist Paul Gattuso. I suspect there is no work by Gattuso past 1950. But many art spotters and all the databases will tell you differently.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Assignment Ranking of Ace Horror Artists<\/strong> (number of jobs in brackets)<\/p>\n
\nThey are hereby labeled as Ace\u2019s \u201cBig Four\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\nThe establishment of the Comics Code Authority shrank the market and destroyed hundreds of jobs for illustrators and authors (a harrowing, 15-page long list can be found in David Hajdu’s censorship thriller „The Ten Cent Plague“, Picador, 2008).<\/p>\n\u00a0LOU CAMERON<\/h2>\n
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\nCameron did not sign his work at first. He will do so from the summer of 1953 on.
\nIn between the partnership with Mastroserio breaks up and Cameron is on his own \u2013 and he has to struggle!<\/p>\nJIM MCLAUGHLIN<\/h2>\n
\nHe inclines to drawing stereotyped men and women.<\/p>\n
\nMcLaughlin\u2019s style will be going through three phases. His sometimes awkward beginnings and ascent, his peak in late 1953\/ early 1954 (when he seems inspired by the work of his colleagues Cameron and Rice) and his decline (where he just doesn\u2019t seem to care that much any more).<\/p>\nLOUIS ZANSKY<\/h2>\n
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\nSpecial Zansky trademark (and art spotting hint): gnarly trees! Really, wherever he can, Zansky puts bare-branched, old, gnarled trees into the picture. Look out for it.<\/p>\n
\nMind you, just crime and western – and just in this period of time. The same artist drew most (sometimes all) of the covers of WESTERN KILLERS, WESTERN TRUE CRIME, FAMOUS CRIMES, JOURNAL OF CRIME (one-shot), MARCH OF CRIME (first series), MURDER INCORPORATED, TRUTH ABOUT CRIME (one-shot) and CRIMES BY WOMEN as well as WOMEN OUTLAWS.
\nI think it may be Zansky. Three of those covers feature gnarly trees in the background. And gnarly trees were \u2013 as the insider knows \u2013 Zansky\u2019s secret trademark! Jerry Bails\u2019 WHO\u2019S WHO does indeed credit the guy with doing covers for Fox\u2026
\nAnd art spotter Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. confirms our suspicions about Zansky doing covers for Fox!<\/p>\nKENNETH (KEN) RICE<\/h2>\n
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\nMainstay of their crime, war and horror books.<\/p>\nMIKE SEKOWSKY<\/h2>\n
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\nSekowsky only did a three-year freelance stint at Ace. He is a prominent contributor up to autumn 1952 and present in almost every issue.<\/p>\n
\nI don\u2019t count him as a member of the \u201cBig Four\u201d (with him included it would have been a \u201cBig Five\u201d), because he leaves the outfit at the end of 1952.<\/p>\n\u201cACE Baker\u201d\/ Frank Giusto \u2013 Incognito Artist<\/h2>\n
\nSome historians discover a relationship to the Good-Girl-champion Matt Baker<\/strong>; others credit him directly with these stories.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nAn imitator, if you will, who seems to have worked exclusively for Ace books.<\/p>\n
\nSo the mystery is: Who is \u201cAce Baker\u201d \u2013 and whither does he vanish?<\/p>\n
\nPostscript January 2013<\/strong>: Fine. Books’s out; everything’s being disclosed now. „Ace Baker“ has been outed as Frank Giusto<\/strong>, a friend and collaborator of Matt’s. Giusto did the odd job for Ace, while Matt never worked for the company.<\/p>\nBILL MOLNO<\/h2>\n
\nMolno\u2019s trademark: those long drawn-out faces, looking slightly dumb and dull! Their mouths even tend to stand open\u2026\u00a0 Jeez.<\/p>\nCHIC STONE<\/h2>\n
<\/a>SY GRUDKO<\/h2>\n
CHARLES NICHOLAS<\/h2>\n
\nJoins the Ace horror crew around autumn 1952, stays just for some months and was obviously hired as a kind of rapid deployment force.
\nAce puts out as much books as never before and needs every helping pen and brush. He is assigned to fill the series WEB OF MYSTERY.
\nNicholas turns out excellent work. His clean and masterful style is a welcome addition to Ace horror books. He lacks the dynamics of Cameron, Streeter or Zansky. He isn\u2019t as moody as McLaughlin, Sekowsky or Grudko. But Nicholas is really nice to look at.
\nHe adds color to the rainbow. He is to Ace what Reed Crandall is to EC.<\/p>\n<\/a>LIN STREETER\u00a0 (Lyndsay Robert Streeter)<\/h2>\n
\nHere\u2019s an artist really fit for horror.<\/strong> Streeter acts as a crossover of Sekowsky and Zansky: solid, powerful artwork, a bit cartoony \u2013 thus adding a layer of irony to his illustrations.
\nI had never heard of Lin Streeter before opening an Ace magazine. Allegedly he worked for the horror books from ACG as well. I will look into that\u2026 So for the while being, enjoy another artist worth discovering.<\/p>\n
\nStreeter’s grandson Cody contacted us with helpful information:<\/em>
\n„He did indeed do work for ACG, as well as his more famous work during World War 2. He was a cartoonist who worked on propaganda, he is most famous for his Private eight ball comic which can be seen in the IVY Leaf and Army times magazine. He did a lot of cartoon drawings for Marvel before they became Marvel as well. „The American Patriot“ who eventually became Cpt. America“.<\/p>\nDICK BECK<\/h2>\n
\nThere\u2019s a melancholy and a sickliness about Beck\u2019s characters which is fascinating to observe. You almost expect them to break out in sweat any moment (like a Rudy Palais stereotype). Dick Beck\u2019s illustrations look like the misshapen alter egos of drawings by Charles Nicholas.<\/p>\n<\/a>RICHARD CASE<\/h2>\n
\nRumored to have worked for Fiction House\u2019s golden age books, Case pops up at Ace in the early 1950s. This guy\u2019s panels look like the misshapen version of Dick Beck\u2019s ones!<\/p>\n
\nHe appears only on the margins of Ace\u2019s horror opus. He deserves to be mentioned \u2013 and in our \u201cStories\u201d-section you will find his best work.
\nNot to be confused with the contemporary artist of the same name \u2013 yes, there is another Richard Case. But I don\u2019t know what he looks like\u2026<\/p>\nGENE COLAN<\/h2>\n
\nFor style comparison click HERE <\/a>see this issue on the Digital Comic Museum. It\u2019s Zansky in the first and Colan in the last story\u2026<\/p>\n<\/a>MAURICE GUTWIRTH \/
GEORGE APPEL<\/del><\/h2>\n<\/a>
\nThe same goes for Gutwirth. Iger man and also at Fiction House. Gets lost in 1949. Maybe they are the same person\u2026
\nSo we don\u2019t really know who is drawing our Ace horror stories in the 1950s. Art spotting guru Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. guesses it\u2019s either one of those unknown golden age pioneers. All we really know is that six stories show this kind of artwork.<\/p>\n