We're in the final week stretch / halfway to Halloween / Walpurgisnacht countdown celebration. And those of you who know, know exactly what I'm talkin' about! So as usual, for the next few posts leading up to it, things are gonna get extra evil around here, and that means no one more so diabolical than big bad daddy-o, Satan himself! Oh wait, sorry... this story isn't about Satan at all. It's about a guy called NATAS. Silly me, I honestly have no idea how I could've got the two confused! Oh well, it's still a frightfully fun tale none the less, and full of freaky demons and exquisite examples of my kind of eerie Robert Pious (?) art! From the October 1952 issue of Adventures into the Unknown #36.
I love this unknown artist. Well, not that unknown if wikipedia is right -- African American which is rare for 52 and won a ton of awards for fine art.
ReplyDeleteHere he turns in a wonder of a story. Natas is about as much the devil as you can get if you aren't red and wearing booty shorts, every picture, every lunging monster, every first fight, this is a great little horror comic.
Special shout out for the Mr Hyde like guy on page 3. Those spinning green eyes!
The story? We've see in before, and the bible bit is out of left field, and with less capable art it'd be more meh, but Pious elevates this way above that.
I'd love to see more of his work.
BTW: Special love for page 7, panel 3. I love the great triumphal look on Natas and Peggy's thing / devil hybrid art.
Poor Natas, all that effort to get a good review on a paper nobody ever heard of for an exhibition nobody was ever going to visit anyway. Go into politics next time, Natas. It worked for another "great" artist a few decades ago.
ReplyDeleteI love two fisted occult stories where the hero can duke it out with hellspawn and Satan himself. Speaking of Satan it’s hilarious that he’s a frustrated artist trying to hustle a good review, because he wants an honest man. Good to see you highlight Richard Pious ( what a name for a story about beating the Devil!) I was familiar with his work, but didn’t think he did something like this. Always worth remembering that the industry did take in Black talent during this time….
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with BTX. A two-fisted art critic! This is the sort of thing I turn to comics for.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm also a sucker for stories in which the devil is an artist. Painter, sculptor, violinist--I love the very idea that evil trucks in creativity. Oh, I'm hip to the viral puritanical notion that aesthetics and intellectualism and idle hands are impurities that distract from an austere life of godly toil and hardship, but I can't help myself. The minute Satan starts writing a book or carving a puppet, I'm smitten.
Here's a story in which precode comics creators vilified art and lionized art critics, by the way. How do you think the unsigned artist felt, penning Natas' name on all those paintings depicted in the splash? What wild situations we are called to witness.
And that artist is so great, too. The last three pages are one showstopper after another. I love the way Natas is depicted as a manic loon, all bug-eyed and jocular. My only criticism is that page three is too compressed--I'm sure it couldn't be helped, but I wish it was two pages instead--and if there was supposed to be some indication that the lights were off until the last panel, well, the colorist didn't get the note. And don't forget the letterer! I love the extra effort taken to depict the half-page of review copy left in the victim's Royal typewriter on page two.
This is a mix of Pickman's Model (a fiendish artist) and a Jack Chick tale before Chick left to do religious work.
ReplyDeleteThe devilish artist should have mentioned that his full name was Nathaniel A. Stan, but was shortened to Nat A. S. so it would be quite memorable. Then again, maybe that is why ol' scratch keeps getting defeated in comics, he just can't keep from using his own name as vanity is one of his weaknesses.
Pious deserves to be remembered as a great artist, in and out of comics.
I know it's a generalization, but how often does calling a piece of entertainment evil keep people AWAY from it?
ReplyDelete(Right now, people will get excited over anything that goes against "wokeness" or "political correctness," and there's always been SOME version of that.)
So, Natas probably should've let Summers go about his business.