Friday, August 3, 2007

Iron Lady

We hear endless praise for greats like Heath, Wolverton, Brodsky, Tuska, Burgos, Baker, etc… and deservedly so. But one name to me seems to continually and unjustly slip through the cracks, and it’s time this error was corrected. Enter: Al Luster, a very unique artist with a slick, dynamic style all his own. His wide range of characters, no matter how dark and diabolical, are just loads of wicked fun. A definitive “Luster” trademark being his villains always tend to have jagged pointy teeth! So here now is the first of 3 stories spotlighting one of my favorite, underrated pre-code artists of the 50’s… (drum roll!) ladies and gentlemen, Al Luster!

From the April 1953 issue of Marvel Tales #113





8 comments:

  1. Anonymous8/04/2007

    Another artist who uses those same sharp,pointy teeth was Al Aedah,i wonder if he was an alias for Luster?,they have very similar styles,either way;I love how he defends his wife in the end after basically exhibiting her as a freak(I guess Hel2 from METROPOLIS wasn't invented yet,thats when the age of sexy robots began!).

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  2. Luster consistantly used a wise balance of "cartoony and realism" which is suited perfectly for comics. I really love the panels on page 2 where they're just rambling along in the old Model T.

    I'll take a look at some Aedah stories and see if you're right.

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  3. Can't find anything on Al Aedah... got any links or additional info to share?

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  4. Anonymous8/04/2007

    i never heard of him either.... maybe he means al quaida?

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  5. Cuz as we all know, pre-code horror comics were the definitive "terrorists" of society in the 50's.

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  6. Anonymous8/05/2007

    Ha,ha,ha,thats the worst pun i've heard since HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1(or would YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN be more appropriate?)had that Torquemada pun,but if you don't believe me,check the website ATLAS TALES,or if you want to see examples of his work,check back "issues" of Paul Curtis's live journal account,or the website Scans_Daily(check their "shorts" tag,for scans of old horror stories,the website isn't all gay humor and Rob Liefeld bashing.)do a search of his name as paulcurtis,if its done normally and not smooshed together,you wont find it,to look for specific stories by Aedah,I know he did "The Fake" in MENACE#10.

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  7. OK, I see him listed on Atlas and GCD now, you spelled his name wrong in your original post.

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  8. That was actually kind of sweet. The two robots were happy together. And the jerk-ass homicidal farmer got killed. Served him right!

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