Friday, October 16, 2009
Famous First Fridays: Alex Nino's U.S. Premiere
Ol' Groove has made no secret of the fact that Alex Nino is one of my all-time favorite comicbook artists. His loose, hip, psychedelic style just has that certain "it" factor that blows me away. As part of the first wave of Filipino artists to storm U.S. comics, Nino's touch made DC's mystery/horror titles evermore cool with his presence. Well, today is the day I get to lay Alex's DC debut on ya, something I've been waiting a long time to do--since I was savin' it for the Halloween Countdown, don'tcha know. From House of Mystery #204 (May 1972), here's "To Die for Magda!", written by Carl Wessler.
Boy, did this bring back memories. Seriously. I had read years ago, but had all but forgetten it. Looking at the scans brought it all back to me. Thanks for posting it!
ReplyDeletefrom one nino fan to another, thanks much for posting this. i have never seen it before, it's a good one! :)
ReplyDeleteI am just becoming acquainted with Nino's work, and I love it! Thanks for posting those scans, I had fun looking at them!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you dug it, folks! More Nino to come--you bet!
ReplyDeleteGroove, I share your love for Alex Nino's work.
ReplyDeleteOf all the Phillipine artists to begin working for Marvel and DC in the early 1970's "invasion"(including Nestor Redondo, Tony DeZuniga, Franc Reyes Alfredo Alcala, Rudy Nebres and so many other talents), Nino is for my money the most talented. Among my favorites among his work for DC are his stories for HOUSE OF MYSTERY, HOUSE OF SECRETS, WEIRD MYSTERY and other DC mystery titles, "Captain Fear" in ADVENTURE COMICS 425-433, and "The Inheritors" in GHOST CASTLE 2.
In a COMIC BOOK ARTIST issue devoted to Phillipine artists, it was revealed that artists like Nino, Redondo and others were grandmasters on the other side of the globe for two decades or so before they made their U.S. debut in DC's mystery titles.
I made a 3 page checklist of Nino's U.S. work, that spans about 230 issues from 1972-1990. (Courtesy of comics.org )
While Nino's later work for Warren's 1984/1994 magazine (1978-1982) is beautiful also, arguably more mature, in complex 2-page double-spreads, I prefer his DC work. The DC stories are of more sincere and personal characters, and lack the cynicism of the Warren stories. And most are beautifully colored.
Two other favorites: THE TIME MACHINE in MARVEL CLASSICS 2 (1976), and "People of the Dark" in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN 6, Jan 1975 (which I prefer reprinted in color, in MARVEL TREEASURY EDITION 19, in 1978). Every one of these stories is a feast for the senses.
Most of the stories you mention are right here on the Diversions, Dave. Happy hunting! :D
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