Al McWilliams – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Al McWilliams — Reborn In Battle

May 29, 2023 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Savage Combat #1, February 1975

Alden (“Al”) McWilliams might have drawn this beautiful splash page form Atlas’ 1975 Savage Combat Tales partially (or entirely) from personal memory. He served in WWII and won the bronze star for his actions during the D-Day invasion in 1944.

He of course is among many comic book artists and cartoonists who went from depicting battles with pen and ink to participating in them with actual flesh and blood.

(Story by Archie Godwin, who had previously edited the brilliant Blazing Combat mag from Warren.)

As noted previously, The Atlas/ Seaboard books have never been reprinted, and that will likely remain that way because of rights issues. I’m hearing of late that demand is now much greater than supply on many of these short-lived and mostly obscure titles.

Al McWilliams — Futurist

June 15, 2021 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Twin Earths, Daily Strip, April 14, 1958

Al (Alden) McWilliams gives us an uncanny glimpse of a cool flip phone — about 40 years ahead of its time.

(Of course, there’s the terrific use of shadows and light to admire as well. But, as always, we digress.)

Twin Earths was one of the few strip collections that we could never make happen at IDW and The Library of American Comics. (For reasons involving both rights and availability of materials.) It’s too bad, because it was a fun and well-rendered adventure strip — one of the few that dealt with “flying saucers.” Capatilizing on UFOs in the news headlines, it was part of an overall more realistic trend in SF post World War 2.

Also, McWilliams is a terrific artist who never quite achieved the fame of some of his contemporaries — seemingly never quite being in the right place at the right time.

Continuing our month long celebration of the great adventure comic strips:
Week 1: Superheroes
Week 2: Detectives
Week 3: SF
Week 4: Comic Book Giants