The first book in Fantagraphics’ new Atlas Artist Edition series collects the best work of Marvel’s top artist of the 1950s in a lush, lavish, full-color, oversize collector’s volume, scanned directly from the original printings and meticulously restored and presented in a wealth of detail never seen before.
Joe Maneely was known for his draftsmanship, his versatility, and his speed. He could draw horror, science fiction, war, crime, Mad-style humor, Westerns, and funny animals with equal dexterity. His tactile, chiaroscuro graphic approach to storytelling has made him a legend among the comics cognoscenti, but because he never drew superheroes and his life ended tragically at age 32, he has never been given the attention his short but incandescent career deserves. Until now.
As Geoffrey C. Ward wrote in American Heritage, “Maneely’s knowledge of 19th century artifacts was encyclopedic, his rumpled, unshaven cowboys all wore the right hats, swung the right lariats, sat in the right saddles, fired the right model Colts — with every screwhead and trigger guard and notched handle precisely rendered.”
And that’s only his Westerns. That tightly focused attention to detail pervades his work in every genre.
The Atlas Artist Edition No. 1: Joe Maneely Vol. 1 presents a cornucopia of Maneely’s work for Marvel (then called Atlas) including Westerns (Kid Colt, Black Rider, Ringo Kid, Wyatt Earp, Two-Gun Kid), pre-code horror (“Haunted!”, “The Raving Maniac”, and the classic “Your Name Is Frankenstein”), space opera (Speed Carter), war (Combat Kelly), Mad-style parodies from the pages of Crazy and Riot, cold-war intrigue and paranoia (Yellow Claw), and Maneely’s pride and joy — his Arthurian champion, The Black Knight. Series editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo provides expert contextual and historical commentary in a special essay for this volume.
