Black and White Wednesday: "The Gloomb Bomb" by Jack Katz
Check it out, Groove-ophiles! Here's a spooky sci-fi parable by Jack (First Kingdom) Katz from Skywald's Psycho #21 (cover-dated October 1974). Wait'll you dig the far-out twist-ending to "The Gloomb Bomb"! It's a blast!
Thanks for posting this, Groove. I haven't seen a whole lot of Katz before -- kind of looks like a mix of Mike Sekowsky and Jack Abel. By the way, unless I missed it, did this story ever actually tell us what a "Gloomb" is?
I'm not very familiar with Katz, either, but I'd bet he hired Jack Abel to ink this job uncredited. And while I can also see hints of Sekowsky on the first couple of pages, the rest of the story looks like it was inspired, swiped, or ghost-pencilled by Gene Colan to me...very reminiscent of his work on the early installments of Marvel's late-60's Captain Marvel book.
Thanks so much for putting this up Groove. It's always a great treat to see hitherto unknown work from a favorite artist. Jack Katz must have used this as a trial run for his epic First Kingdom, which he started shortly after this. This story has all the familiar Katz elements of layout and figure drawing, but I'll side with the other guys that it was inked by Jack Abel. When Katz inked his own work(as he did in First Kingdom), the finished product looked quite different from this(not inferior, just different- inked more with a sketchier line than the surehanded brushstrokes seen here). This story and the Zangar work he did for Jungle Adventures was probably among the last work he did for mainstream publishing before he left to begin his self-published work. He also did some work for Marvel's horror comics line around this time, using the pseudonym "Jay Hawk". Anyway, thanks again for sharing this with us. Your site is a treasure trove of comic reading goodness. I feel like a kid again, going into the local pharmacy and heading straight to the spinner racks. You do us all a great service, sir!
That's pretty groovy. Especially given that a hit TV show can still surprise with the concept in 2009. I hope the big ideas are not all behind us.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this, Groove. I haven't seen a whole lot of Katz before -- kind of looks like a mix of Mike Sekowsky and Jack Abel. By the way, unless I missed it, did this story ever actually tell us what a "Gloomb" is?
ReplyDeleteI'm not very familiar with Katz, either, but I'd bet he hired Jack Abel to ink this job uncredited. And while I can also see hints of Sekowsky on the first couple of pages, the rest of the story looks like it was inspired, swiped, or ghost-pencilled by Gene Colan to me...very reminiscent of his work on the early installments of Marvel's late-60's Captain Marvel book.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for putting this up Groove. It's always a great treat to see hitherto unknown work from a favorite artist. Jack Katz must have used this as a trial run for his epic First Kingdom, which he started shortly after this. This story has all the familiar Katz elements of layout and figure drawing, but I'll side with the other guys that it was inked by Jack Abel. When Katz inked his own work(as he did in First Kingdom), the finished product looked quite different from this(not inferior, just different- inked more with a sketchier line than the surehanded brushstrokes seen here). This story and the Zangar work he did for Jungle Adventures was probably among the last work he did for mainstream publishing before he left to begin his self-published work. He also did some work for Marvel's horror comics line around this time, using the pseudonym "Jay Hawk". Anyway, thanks again for sharing this with us. Your site is a treasure trove of comic reading goodness. I feel like a kid again, going into the local pharmacy and heading straight to the spinner racks. You do us all a great service, sir!
ReplyDelete