STAR WARZ

A typical movie parody from the long gone CRACKED Mazagine.
*sigh*
I still miss this comic. The only thing we have to remember it by is their website, which is not quite the same.

by John Severin
from CRACKED #146, November 1977








*

Code Of Honor

From the final issue of EC's action title, Two-Fisted Tales, here is a little bit of awesomeness from John Severin. Notice the detail and authenticity in this period piece. Everything, the architecture, the weapons, the clothes, even his re-interpretation of the old 'gentleman's code' on the first page. This whole story shows just how dedicated that Severin was to his craft.
Any young aspiring artists should be forced to study both John Severin and Alex Toth at every art school.

by John Severin
from TWO-FISTED TALES #41, February 1955







*

WHAT IF...WEDNESDAY WITH JOHN SEVERIN

John Severin, legendary golden age comic artist, most well remembered for his long tenure with the now-defunct CRACKED mazagine, passed away on Sunday February 12th, 2012. He was ninety years old. During his career, he worked in almost every genre and style of comics, including his much-loved 'serious' artwork on the EC line, to his humorous 'caricature' style in the aforementioned CRACKED and other funny books.
Prior to his passing, he was amassing a whole new generation of fans for his work with the publisher DARK HORSE. He will be missed by all.
So....
No particular focus for this week's WHAT IF, just three alternate reality stories done by the legendary Mr. Severin.

What if comic heroes faced mandatory retirement?
What if the Silver Surfer weren't so serious?
What if Peter Porker was a journalist in Vietnam?

scans from:
WHAT THE--?! #2, September 1988
WHAT THE--?! #26, Fall 1993
ULTIMATE CIVIL WAR: SPIDER-HAM, March 2007










Next up is one of Severin's inking jobs. You'll notice that even when the pencils aren't his, he still makes the finished project one of his own. I'm not sure why that was, but I know that if you gave him nothing but sketchy stick figures, he'd still come back with some kind of awesome. Must've been nice for the pencillers, since they more often than not receive full credit for how the art looks once it's printed.
If you've ever seen Kevin Smith's film CHASING AMY, then you know that most people assume that inkers "just trace over other peoples drawing". Not true.









Finally, here's a weird alternate reality featuring (of all characters) Peter Porker aka SpiderHam. It's well known that Mr. Severin could draw anything and everything, but it's somewhat of a rarity to see him working in the funny animal genre. Which is one of the reasons I really like this sequence.
Also of note is that this is like a triple parody (it's a spoof of a movie and two different comics simultaneously).






*

A TWO FISTED TALE

When you mention EC Comics, the first thing people think of is TALES FROM THE CRYPT. But we're not going to be looking at any pre-code horror comics this time around. We'll be looking at a western story.
When Harvey Kurtzman left TWO-FISTED TALES to focus on the humor titles MAD and PANIC, no one else was able to match the levels of intense battlefield drama he'd attained before. Instead, the title branched out from just war stories to more general action and adventure. They even tried adding a few recurring characters, but TWO-FISTED still ended up cancelled after issue #41.
This somewhat light story might be a bit predictable, but I never pass up a chance to look at Severin's art.

By Colin Dawkins and John Severin.
from TWO-FISTED TALES #38, July 1954








*