This isn't exactly a sequel to Nadel's celebrated 2006 anthology Art Out of Time
, but a “companion,” he explains in its introduction. In fact, there seem to be three different collections of comics bypassed by conventional wisdom jostling for room here. One is work by well-known cartoonists in genres outside their specialties (like two horror stories by John Stanley, better known for his work on Little Lulu
and other kid-humor comics, and war-comics artist Sam Glanzman's peculiar jungle adventure, “Kona”). Another continues the Art Out of Time
project of unearthing forgotten, distinctive pulp-comics stylists. Pete Morisi's Johnny Dynamite noir-PI stories, for instance, are clichéd far past the point of parody, but there's something weirdly compelling about his figures' stiff, pained look, and Pat Boyette's 1967 “Children of Doom” is an intriguing variation on the sci-fi illustration style of its era. A third subset of the book's 14 artists are underground cartoonists with very different aesthetics from the 10-cent adventures they're sandwiched between: Sharon Rudahl, Michael McMillan, Willy Mendes, and John Thompson (a Rick Griffin–inspired psychedelic artist whose tripped-out, classicist Cyclops Comics
is the oddest rediscovery). Nadel doesn't quite manage to draw the lines that connect this volume's artists, but he's spotlighted some intriguing work. (May)
