Bob Powell
Bob Powell né Stanley Robert Pawlowski (born October 6, 1916, Buffalo, New York, United States; died October 1, 1967, Huntington, New York) was an American comic book artist known for his work during the 1930-40s Golden Age of comic books, including on the features "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" and "Mr. Mystic". He received a belated credit in 1999 for co-writing the debut of the popular feature "Blackhawk". Powell also did the pencil art for the famous bubble gum trading card series, Mars Attacks. He officially changed his name to S. Robert Powell in 1943.
Early life and career
After studying art at Pratt Institute in New York City, Powell, like many comics artists in the late 1930s, found work at Eisner & Iger, one of the most prominent "packagers" who supplied complete comic books to publishers testing the waters of the emerging medium. His first work is believed to be the uncredited three-page story "A Letter of Introduction", featuring the famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, in Fiction House's Jumbo Comics #2 (Oct. 1938). Another of his earliest works, under the pseudonym Arthur Dean, was penciling the adventure feature "Dr. Fung" in Fox's Wonder Comics #1 (May 1939) and subsequently.
Powell also did early work for Fox's Wonderworld Comics and Mystery Men Comics; Fiction House's Planet Comics, where his strips included "Gale Allen and the Women's Space Battalion"; Harvey's Speed Comics, for which he wrote and drew the feature "Ted Parrish", (reportedly pencilling at least once under the pseudonym Bob Stanley); Timely's one-shot Tough Kid Squad Comics; Quality's Crack Comics (where he pencilled as Terence McAully), Hit Comics (as Stanley Charlot), Military Comics (where he signed his pencils for the "Loops and Banks" aviation strip as Bud Ernest), Smash Comics (as Powell Roberts), and Feature Comics.
Sheena and Superheroes
As part of the Eisner & Iger studio, Powell drew many of the earliest adventures of the jungle-queen Sheena in Jumbo Comics, though Robert Webb would soon become the longest-running Sheena artist. Later, after Will Eisner split off to form his own studio in an arrangement with Quality publisher Everett M. "Busy" Arnold — bringing Powell, Nick Cardy, Chuck Cuidera, Lou Fine and others with him — Powell pitched in to co-write the premiere of "Blackhawk," created by Eisner and Cuidera, in Military Comics #1 (Aug. 1941). Powell remained uncredited until Eisner and Cuidera, in a 1999 panel, discussed his contribution.[1]
Powell became particularly known for his "good girl art" in Magazine Enterprises' Cave Girl, and in Fiction House's Jungle Comics, where he worked on early Sheena stories and later on the zebra-bikini'd jungle adventuress Camilla.
In the realm of superhero comics, Powell co-created the patriotic character personifying the Spirit of '76, in Harvey's Pocket Comics #1 (Aug. 1941). It would become a long-running feature in Harvey's Green Hornet Comics. Powell also penciled a Golden Age Captain America story, "The Sorceror's Sinister Secret", in Timely's All Winners Comics #4 (Spring 1942), and pencilled a chapter of the historic All Winners Comics #19 (Fall 1946). He notably drew the backup feature "Mr. Mystic" in Eisner's "The Spirit Section", a 16-page comic-book insert for Sunday newspapers, from the feature's inception in 1940 until Powell entered the U.S. Air Force for his World War II military service in 1943.
Post-war Powell
Following his discharge, Powell formed his own studio and drew for numerous comic-book publishers. Among his notable works through the 1950s and early 1960s were features and covers for Street and Smith's Shadow Comics; Magazine Enterprises' Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders, and all four issues of Strong Man; Harvey Comics' Man in Black, Adventures in 3-D and True 3-D; and a handful of early Silver Age Daredevil, Giant-Man, Hulk and Human Torch stories for Marvel Comics. Powell's assistant in the early 1950s was Howard Nostrand.
In 1961, Powell became art director for the satirical magazine Sick, working there until his death. On a freelance basis, he worked on Topps' 1962 Mars Attacks trading cards, doing the final pencil art based on early pencils roughs by Wally Wood; Norm Saunders then did the final painted art. Powell had previously worked with Saunders and others on Topps' 1961 Civil War News series of cards.
In comic strips, Powell drew writer Bessie Little's short-lived Teena-a-Go-Go (1966).
Quotes
Tom Heintjes: "After The Spirit, perhaps the best drawn feature in the section was Powell's 'Mr. Mystic'. Eisner created Mr. Mystic by retooling his Yarko the Great, which had been syndicated overseas. After running through Eisner's scripts, Powell wrote and drew the feature until he was drafted a couple of years later. (A very good artist, Powell was a journeyman writer who tried but never managed to sell Eisner on some Spirit scripts, a situation that rankled Powell for some time.) 'Mr. Mystic' was cut from the Sunday section's lineup in 1944, by which time Fred Guardineer was handling its production".[2]
Will Eisner on Eisner's partnership with Everett M. "Busy" Arnold creating tensions with Powell [1]: "There were problems between partners, because Arnold had his own line of books, and we were sometimes competitors. He offered Bob Powell an increase on what I was paying him for working on 'The Spirit Section', and Bob came to me and said, 'I can make more with your partners.' I called up Arnold and said, 'You want a lawsuit?' Arnold apologized but Powell got very angry, and he said, 'You ruined my career! You cut me off.' I said, 'Well, you want to quit me, and go down the street and work for someone else...well, all right. But you're not going to work for my partner while I'm around'. Anyway, we settled it. When I went into the service ... I got a letter from Bob Powell that said, 'Well, now that you're in the Army, you might get killed. I want to tell you that I forgive you' (laughter)".
Nick Cardy on Powell at the Eisner studio [2]: "Bob Powell came in later when I was doing "Lady Luck". He was sitting behind me. He would help a kid around the block — tell a newcomer to take it easy and that sort of thing."
Gerard Jones, on the give-and-take with Powell at the Eisner studio: "They learned to put up with Stan Pulowski's griping about 'kikes', telling each other a Polack didn't know better...." <reff>Jones, Gerard, Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book (Basic Books; 2004 hardcover ISBN 0-465-03656-2; 2005 trade paperback ISBN 0-465-03657-0), p.139</ref>
Will Eisner on Powell at the Eisner studio: "It was a friendly shop, and I guess I was the same age as the youngest guys there. We all got along. The only ones who ever got into a hassle were George Tuska and Bob Powell. Powell was kind of a wiseguy and made remarks about other people in the shop. One day, George had enough of it, got up, and punched out Bob Powell".[3]
Fred Hembeck on Powell's short Silver Age stint at Marvel Comics [3]: "Powell bowed with what was then only the latest — but not last — Giant-Man revamp in Tales to Astonish #65 (March 1965), and was in charge of the exceedingly disappointing meeting between the Human Torch, the Thing, and the Beatles (Strange Tales #130, also March 1965). In all, the former Eisner associate would pencil the final five [Giant-Man] plots (working over [Jack] Kirby's layouts on the last four), also pencil the last five Torch/Thing duo deals ... did layouts for Wally Wood's last three Daredevil issues ... and would wind up his days at Marvel pencilling two Hulk stories (Tales To Astonish #73 and #74, November and December 1965, both over Kirby breakdowns — one inked by himself, and the second by Mike Esposito)."
Footnotes
- ^ P.O.V. Online (column of Sept. 8, 2000), by Mark Evanier (Transcript, Part 2, of 1999 Comic-Con International panel with Chuck Cuidera and Will Eisner)
- ^ "Will Eisner's The Spirit: Writing the Rules", by Tom Heintjes
- ^ Will Eisner interview, Alter Ego #48, May 2005, p. 21