Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Bill Everett

Dan Parent — Battle Of The Century, Revisited

Original Art and The Artists

Betty vs. Veronica, Commission, 2015

Wrapping up our multi-part tribute to The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, in honor of the late summer weather at the California coast.

From time to time, an offbeat Archie mash-up idea burrows its way into my consciousness, and Dan Parent always delivers.  In fact, this homage to the original battle scene by the legendary Bill Everett is one of my favorites among the many terrific ones Dan’s produced.

Dan is easily among the top tier of all-time Archie stand-out talents, joining a terrific group of cartoonists that includes Bob Montana, Dan DeCarlo and Harry Lucey, to name a few.

Incidentally, we matched the characters by overall appearance (Veronica/Namor, brunette and Betty/Torch, blonde) and, to some extent, personality. After all, Veronica is definitely the worse-tempered of the two, and Betty… does indeed carry a “torch” for Archie.

Ouch.

Ross Andru — Laughing Matter

Original Art and The Artists

Not Brand Echh # 1, August 1967

I had only recently started buying Marvel comics off the spinner racks when Not Brand Echh premiered in the summer 1967. I was immediately attracted to its zaniness. I knew Marvel didn’t take itself too seriously from reading its traditional comics — The “Bullpen Bulletins”, the “no-prize” gimmick, the Merry Marvel Marching Society, et al — but Not Brand Echh (NBE) was a new level of nutty.  (A bit later on I discovered it was in the spirit of the original EC Mad comics, but I didn’t know anything about that era yet.)

The actual golden age fight between the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner had just been reprinted a few months ago in Fantasy Masterpieces (# 8), and here was a send-up making fun of the whole thing? The Human Scorch?  The Sunk-Mariner? As my friends’ older siblings would say back then, far out.

Bill Everett is typically credited as one of the pencillers on this story — I’d like to believe that — but writer Roy Thomas says he remembers that Everett may have only worked on the title splash at most. Either way, Ross Andru was no stranger to superheroes or satire, and this page is a favorite.

1967 also saw the debut of Topps Wacky Packages and Roy’s earlier comic book satires, Krazy Little Comics, also from Topps. Summer of Love? Sure. But also —- Summer of Satire.

  • Fantasy Masterpieces # 8…
  • …Reprints the 25-year old battle
  • And NBE #1…
  • …Skewers it
  • Krazy Little Comics
  • MMS — Big News