Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon) and Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim) cast a huge shadow over the comics of the Golden Age. Perhaps even more than Eisner (who was more the shape of the future), Caniff and Raymond were the ideal of what graphic storytelling with Caniff being probably the more ifluential.Comics of the Forties were filled with obvious imitations of Caniff but no series ever came closer to matching (or even surpassing) the original than did Airboy.Airboy was one of the most successful and most highly regarded characters of the Golden Age. Of his long run, few stories are more fondly remembered than “Airboy and the Rats,” a fantasy/horror/adventure well told and beautifully drawn. You can find it here but please be patient with the navigation (this is very much a work in progress).
Smoking Gun explains the most famous condition in rock history, Van Halen's no brown M&M clause (tip of the hat to Angry Bear)
As I mentioned before, I've been putting together some pop culture websites, the first focusing on the extraordinary Dick Briefer's Golden Age Frankenstein series. Briefer took the character from horror to adventure to comedy back to horror. Of these the best remembered are the humorous stories (Briefer was a gifted cartoonist), but there were flashes of brilliance throughout the run.This page is from the 1954 story “Battle of the Monsters.” Look at the texture and rhythm of the water, the way Briefer subtly suggests the swells with the waterline. Like all great cartoonists, he draws no more than needs. Here he conveys the languor and isolation of a small boat on the open sea and he does it without a wasted stroke. I really like this picture.
