Addicted to Alex Nino: "The Dark Secret of the Swamp!" by Fleisher and Nino
Happy day after Halloween, Groove-ophiles! We've gotta squeeze in some superbly sinister Alex Nino art before the week's out, so let's do it with a creepy Michael Fleisher swamp story! From
Unexpected #152 (August 1973), here is..."The Dark Secret of the Swamp!"
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| Cover art by Nick Cardy |
Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!
Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.
All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.
As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!
is...that the end?!
ReplyDeleteFixed it. Sorry 'bout that.
DeleteThanks Groove - always great to see something drawn by the mighty Alex Nino that I wasn't previously aware of, even if I do generally prefer him in his less restrained mad science-fiction mode.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of mad science-fiction, now its past Halloween any chance of you posting 2001 #6 this month?
(Er, not that I want to take your blog for granted or anything...)
-sean
How many swamp monsters are there in comics, for cryin' out loud?!
ReplyDeleteI can name half a dozen or so of the top of my head, and I have the memory of a gnat.
Lessee, Solomon Grundy, Swamp Thing, Man Thing, It, the Glob, the Mush, Muck-Man, the Slab...
Okay, maybe I don't remember the names exactly...
M.P.
Don't forget the Heap M.P.
Delete(Although to be fair he was quite forgettable)
-sean
I own this very enjoyable mag which thoroughly answers your question:
Deletehttp://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1134
Neil
What a fabulous story, I've always been a sucker for a horror story set in a swamp or a bayou.
ReplyDeleteAlex Nino is one of the most talented and under-praised artists in comics of this era. His pages, particularly for DC's mystery titles, are a sight to behold, unlike anyone else's work. This story in particular made me think Nino is one of several who could have succeeded Wrightson with a spectacular run on SWAMP THING. But at least we have this one issue, that gives us a glimpse of what it could have been like.
ReplyDeleteSome other artists who could have provided some some great work on the series are Neal Adams, Michael Kaluta, Howard Payne (see HOUSE OF MYSTERY 206 and 207!), Chaykin, Ploog, Toth, Aparo (as seen in B & B a few times), Vicente Alcazar, Estaban Maroto, Leon Torrents, Auraleon, Arthur Suydam, Walt Simonson, Ernie Colon, and no doubt many others.
It's fun to think of the possibilities, from the artist pool that was available back then.