It is with a very heavy heart we say goodbye to our good friend,
Hy Fleishman, who passed away painlessly, and peacefully earlier this morning at the age of 92. One of
THOIA's favorite artists,
Hy unquestionable propelled 1950's horror comics (and beyond) into areas where few other artists dared to go, and the best way we can honor the man and his legacy is to present two wonderfully wild examples of what
Hy excelled at most--
THE HORROR.
Vampire's Bite! is from the December 1952 issue of
Dark Mysteries #10, and
A Monument to Mortimer! is from the July 1953 issue of
Journey into Unknown Worlds #20.
And be sure to check the
THOIA Archive for many more classics by
Hy. Our deepest condolences once again to
Hy's family and friends, though with this sad news I will have some good news in the coming weeks regarding the
Hy Fleishman collection that we (
Yoe Books) have been working on for the last year. Stay tuned for more on that, coming soon...
Great stuff, RIP Mr. Fleishman, you brought a lot of joy and entertainment to a lot of people, which is the highest calling you can have.
ReplyDeleteStory wise, the first is predictable but fun, and the second is just great. It's incredibly hard to guess where that was going and I didn't even know until the final sentence. A great piece of work.
Obviously awesome art all around, and the coloring matched it. I always love the stories where the artist gets to draw multiple monsters, and Hy does a great job on the second story which doesn't have as much fun stuff to draw. Let's marvel for a bit at the range here -- from skeletons, to pin-ups, to gleaming rocket ships. Quite the talent. RIP, Hy.
Hy gets in a pin-up on a woman falling to her death, that gets extra points!
Wow...that first story.
ReplyDeleteThe writer clearly had issues about, well, a bunch of stuff.
Regardless, I'd wish to be a pickled ghoul!
First story:
ReplyDeletePre code comics really didn't like women much, did they?
Second story:
Gisnt governess-foot aside, the artwork is great. From the dust psnel I was wondering why Mortimer the Great looked like a kid who deserves a kick up the backside. And it also explains how someone could "remember" the last visit from Saturn if it were 3000 years ago. But wouldn't death dying means nobody dies, anywhere in the universe? Remind me of something out of one of those horror stories where death rates a holiday and the world is full of headless chickens running around.
These are two excellent examples of what I love about Fleishman. All those beefy panels, stuffed with interesting detail and and marky topography. Hy really used the space provided. Page one of Vampire's Bite is great: The delirious splash, the swirling formaldehyde, even that wrinkled curtain. The rest of the story, too. I love the lab, the shaded faces, that two-part panel at the bottom of page five. And the second story is just as great, visually. Hy's future cityscape is very compelling (and I gotta say, not particularly derivative visually, at least so far as I know), his walls of tech gizmos are excellent sci-fi texture, and the panel with dad getting zapped in the bathtub is one my very faves of late. (And that Dark Mysteries cover is pretty great, too.)
ReplyDeleteSo way to go, Mr. Fleishman. Rest in peace. I'm a fan.
Both these stories are bonkers! Do we know who wrote them?
ReplyDeleteMan, today was a black day in the history of obituaries. Glad at the very least Hy died "painlessly and peacefully" at a ripe old age. Best to all who knew him, and thanks for sharing his work here.
Thanx much for this, Steve....truly one of the greats!... I have the super-jellies, reading Hy's handwritten note to you! ....great news about the upcoming Fleishman book... I know it's gonna rock, which is the ultimate tribute to the man and his work...my heart goes out his family...Safe travels to him...Rest in Peace, Hy....
ReplyDeleteThank you Hy! R.I.P.
ReplyDeleteThe nurse jumping or being pushed out the window could've inspired that one scene of The Omen.
ReplyDelete