Bill Molno's demons: 1953-1976

Good grief--it's been five months since I last comic-blogged.  I didn't realize it had been that long, but the post dates don't lie.  Well, not unless the blogger changes them after the fact.  Anyway, time flies when you're doing umpteen things.  I think there's an Einstein quote to that effect.

So, with no time to snooze, let's go straight to some astoundingly good 1953 Bill Molno art.  It's from "The Sorcerer's Spectacles" (Ace's Hand of Fate, issue #17), and I scanned the panels from my own slightly fragile copy.  Inks are unknown, but the pencils are sheer, pure Bill, even if they're pretty much the antithesis of his simpler circa-1963 work for Charlton Comics (which I love just as much).  Spectacles is a typically violent pre-Code affair, in which the plot essentially exists to set up gruesome situations,  The guy who goes on an unfettered spree of evil, only to turn everything on himself in the last few panels, is a theme that would have made billions for anyone with the foresight to patent it:

The complete "Sorcerer's Spectacles" can be seen at the Ace Horror! blog: Link.

Luckily, when Bill joined Charlton, he brought his demons with him.  Here are some of his best-conceived imps and giants, most of them starring as space aliens, in designs ranging from reptilian to cyclopean.  Molno's monster faces always provide a fascinating counterpoint to his (usually) bland human mugs.

From "Terms of Surrender" (Space War #22, May 1963):

Puny pool-table inhabitants from "Behind the Eight Ball" (Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #2, January 1957):

Not-so-little green men, from "When the Day Comes" (Space Adventures #45, May 1962):

Enemy creatures with freeze guns on Titan ("The Six Moon of Saturn," Space War #8, December 1960).  And I've always wanted to type "Enemy creatures with freeze guns on Titan":

Another reptilian bad guy, this time on Earth ("The Missionary," Scary Tales #6, July 1976);

"Eyeless" blue aliens with eyes ("The Eyes of Doom," Strange Suspense Stories #61, October, 1962):

From 1964, one of Molno's coolest fiends: urbane gargoyles with antennae for horns ("The Primitives," Space War #26, June 1964).  Images from Comic Book Plus:

Red E.T.s on a red planet, light-sensitive and unable to endure heat.  Or to see in stereo.  It takes the Earth heroes all of five pages (plus ad) to defeat them.  ("Red as Blood," Space War #7, October 1960):

       

Finally, turquoise invaders in Dracula get-ups.  This time, it takes Earth six pages to foil their plans.  We're getting a little rusty in our responses....  ("The Sleep Rain," Space Adventures #55, January 1964):

:

Lee

Charlton space covers by Bill Molno!

For today's post, sixteen space covers by Bill Molno for Charlton Comics, most of them inked by Vince Alascia.  I'm using "space" as a catch-all for science fiction--hence, some of these images are Earth-based.  In posts to come, I'll be reviewing individual Molno-illustrated space stories, but I thought I'd start with some of his covers in/for that genre, with all but two wholly his.  Though many of these were taken from splash panels, they work superlatively as cover images.  I've put the date and issue number under each scan:

Space Adventures #46, July, 1962.  From splash panel.

Space War #11, June, 1962.  From splash panel.

Space War #15, March, 1962, from splash panel.

Out of This World #2, Dec., 1956.

Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #28, Jan., 1962, from splash panel.

Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #20, Sep., 1960.  Top panel; from interior art.

Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #17, March, 1960, from splash panel.

Out of This World #15, Oct., 1959, Molno/Alascia cover.  First image based on interior art.  Not sure about the other two!

Space Adventures #41, Aug., 1961.  First two images from interior Molno/Alascia panels.

Space Adventures #28, April, 1959.

Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #13, June, 1959.

Unusual Tales #2, Jan., 1956.

Strange Suspense Stories #58, April, 1962, from splash panel.

Space War #19, Sep., 1962, from splash panel.

Space War #13, Oct., 1961, from splash panel.

Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #27, Nov., 1961, from splash panel.

Lee

Bill Molno's 1970s war art for Charlton

Technically, Bill Molno's '70s Charlton work starts in September, 1971 with "The Talking Tooth" (Fightin' Marines #99), but I strongly suspect this feature was an instance of delayed publication--stylistically, it is identical to a Nov., 1968 Fightin' Marines feature by Molno called "Silent Signals."  Observe:

Same lettering, too.  And there's the biggest clue of all: the job number of B-647.  (The other two stories in Fightin' Marines #99 have the job numbers B-1591 and B-1561, respectively.) Clearly,"The Talking Tooth" was drawn well before 1971.   I think we can safely conclude, based on available data (i.e., mine and GCD's), that Molno's '70s Charlton work really starts in July, 1974 with his cover for Fightin' Army #114:

Molno drew one more war cover before Charlton mass-fired its staff in 1976, though that cover (Fightin' Army #129) wasn't printed until November, 1977.  Its art was (mostly) taken from the splash panel to "A Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse":
       

Notice how the guy in the foreground appears to be shooting one of his own men (above)?  Well, it turns out he was borrowed from the interior story's second panel and carelessly pasted in.  Hence, the rather awkward detail in an otherwise tight composition.  Behold:

During Charlton's reprint era, Molno's art graced five war comic covers (from 9/81, 5/80, 3/78, 12/82, and 8/81, respectively):

But we're here for the interior art, and I'm happy to report that it's the best of Molno's career (though my personal favorite is the artist's highly eccentric '60s Charlton space art).  Here are some of his best compositions and layouts from Fightin' Army, Fightin' Marines, and War, images which display a looseness of line, depth of detail, and inventiveness in layout missing from much (though not all) of his pre-1974 work.  In my humble yet biased view, these are highly effective and efficient battlefield depictions. It should come as no surprise that the man behind these images was a watercolorist.

By the way, going through these, I noticed to my surprise that some of them received their first (and only) printings during the reprint era--meaning, of course, that they had remained in inventory since the mass firing of 1976.  And so I had assumed that, for instance, 1979s "The Cold, Cold War" and 1978's "My Duty Or Death" were reprints.  Not.  This stuff gets complicated!

Below: "Private War," Fightin' Marines #133, Oct., 1977:

Below: "Trapped Again," Fightin' Marines #123, May, 1975.

Below: "The Devil Dogs at Chateau Thierry," Fightin' Marines #125, Sept., 1975.

Below: "Chicken," Fightin' Marines #127, Jan., 1976:

Below: "The Raiders," Fightin' Army #130, Feb., 1978.  (Not to be confused with the Molno-illustrated story of the same title in War #9, Nov., 1976):

Below: "The Chongjn Express," Fightin' Marines #118, Aug., 1974.

Below: "My Duty or Death," Fightin' Army #131, March, 1978.  

Below: "The Cold, Cold War," War #13, April, 1979:

Below: "Giant Killer," Fightin' Army #127, Dec., 1976:

More Molno to come!

Lee