Pre Code Horror Comics

I was going to post more game concept art but got sidetracked when I found that Confidential File video. So we'll keep up with the 1950's horror for the rest of the week.

Horror comics of the 1940s and early 1950s are often called 'pre-Code' horror in reference to the Comics Code Authority, a censoring board that was created in response to Dr. Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent and the subsequent public outcry against crime and horror comics. Since violent, gory and lurid content were what made pre-Code horror comics great, the stifling effect of censorship resulted in bland comics that didn't sell. The horror comic market was dead, killed by the Code.

Captain America Comics #74 (Oct. 1949) was originally titled Captain America's Weird Tales #74. oddly enough, this was because of Timely's ultimate turn to Horror comics in the 1950's. The title was meant as the final issue of Captain America Comics but one more issue followed: Captain America's Weird Tales #75. It had no Captain America stories in it and was instead an early Timely/Atlas horror comic.

The story of EC Comics (w/ William Gaines)

Confidential File: Horror Comic Books!

Is this classic or what??? I love the reactions of the kids--and the Brooklyn accents! Those comics look giantic don't they--some titles I've never seen!

Ryan Meinerding

Ryan Meinerding worked as a concept artist for Midway games and also recently on Captain America: First Avenger

Al Columbia

Al Columbia Doghead

Doghead is a 48-page comic book by Al Columbia. His first solo publication, it was released by Tundra Publishing in 1992 while Columbia was involved with Alan Moore's Big Numbers. It contains three short stories, two in black and white and one in full color.
A contemporaneous review summed up Doghead dismissively as "some Dave McKean and Bill Sienkiewicz impersonations, some fine colour work and an occasional exchange of witty dialogue between [Columbia's] characters,"[1] while Paul Gravett, in a 2002 essay on Columbia's career, saw in it "hints of his emerging singular identity."[2]
The last page of Doghead includes Columbia's "apologies" to some of his early sources of inspiration: Black Francis, Nick Cave, William S. Burroughs, Dave McKean, David Lynch, Papa Kafka, and J. G. Ballard.

More Al Columbia

Ben Olson

Ben Olson is one of my favorite concept artists these days. His imagery is is very real and disturbing. The stuff of nightmares. His rendering of flesh and bone is gut wrenching. His colors are sublime. Many of his concepts will probably never be seen because for the most part vid game companies don't release this stuff. Anyway--here's a taste.

Al Columbia - AMNESIA

AMNESIA-(c)1999 Al Columbia. originally published in Zero Zero (Fantagraphics) . A masterpiece.

Al Columbia