Joe Maneely

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Black Knight #1 (May 1955). Cover art by Maneely
Black Knight #1 (May 1955). Cover art by Maneely

Joseph "Joe" Maneely (born Feb. 18, 1926, Pennsylvania, United States; died June 7, 1958)[1] is an American comic book artist best known for his work at Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics.

An exquisite draftsman whose delicate yet solid, fine-line figures made his work both distinctive and well-suited to the medium, Maneely was one of the relative stars of Atlas, along with such soon-to-blossom talents as Steve Ditko and John Romita. Talented and well-respected, he died in a commuter-train accident shortly before Marvel's ascendancy into a commercial and pop-cultural conglomerate.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Trained at the Hussian School of Art in Philadelphia, Joe Maneely worked in the advertising art department of the Philadelphia Bulletin newspaper before serving in the U.S. Navy as a visual-aids specialist. He joined Street & Smith Publications in 1948 as a comic-book artist, drawing such features as "Butterfingers", "Django Jinks, Ghost Chaser", "Mario Nette", "Nick Carter", "Public Defender", "Roger Kilgore", "Supersnipe", "Tao Anwar" and "Ulysses Q. Wacky" in comics including The Shadow, Top Secrets, Ghost Breakers and Super Magician Comics. His earliest known credit is the company's Red Dragon #4 (Aug. 1948), for which he penciled and inked the eight-page story "Death by the Sword" and the one-page featurette "Tao's Small Sword Box", both starring the hero Tao Anwar.

Other nascent work includes the seven-page story "Washington's Scout" in Hillman Periodicals' Airboy Comics vol. 6, #10 (Nov. 1949).

Ringo Kid #16 (Feb. 1957). Cover art by Maneely.
Ringo Kid #16 (Feb. 1957). Cover art by Maneely.

[edit] Atlas Comics

Maneely then found work at publisher Martin Goodman's Marvel Comics predecessor, Timely Comics, as it was transitioning to its 1950s incarnation as Atlas Comics. Following his debut there with the eight-page Western story "The Kansas Massacre of 1864" in Western Outlaws And Sheriffs #60 (Dec. 1949), Maneely hit his stride at the company, for which he briefly worked on staff before freelancing.

With speed to match his style, he became a favorite of editor-in-chief Stan Lee, and Maneely's work appears on covers and stories throughout virtually the entire range of Atlas comics. With superheroes experiencing a lull in popularity, Maneely drew Westerns, war, horror, humor, romance, science fiction, spy, crime, and even period-adventure stories — that last most notably with the medieval series Black Knight. Other significant Atlas work, reprinted widely by Marvel in the 1960s and '70s, include Yellow Claw #1 (Oct. 1956) and Ringo Kid #1-21 (Aug. 1954 - Sept. 1957).

By the summer of 1957, Atlas was experiencing difficulties and began shedding freelancers. Shortly afterward, Martin Goodman stopped distributing his own titles and switched American News Company, which soon closed, temporarily leaving Atlas without a distributor and resulting in all staff other than Lee being fired.[2] Maneely continued to work with Lee on the Chicago Sun-Times-syndicated comic strip Mrs. Lyons' Cubs. He also "bought a new home in [New] Jersey for his young wife and small daughters" and did a limited amount of freelancing for DC Comics (Gang Busters #62, House of Mystery #71-73, House of Secrets #9, Tales of the Unexpected #22, cover-dated from February to April 1958); Charlton Comics (Cowboy Western #67, Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal #20, both March 1958); and Crestwood Publications.[2]

Maneely also drew a four-page comic about Social Security for the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, "John's First Job" (1956).[3]

[edit] Death

On the night of his death, Maneely had dined with fellow laid-off Atlas colleagues (including Bill Everett) in Manhattan. He did not have his glasses with him, and was killed when he accidentally fell between the cars of a moving commuter train on his way home to New Jersey.[4]

His last original published story was the five-page Ringo Kid tale "One Bullet Left" in Gunsmoke Western #53 (July 1959), and his final comics work was the cover of Gunsmoke Western #55 (Nov. 1959), featuring Kid Colt and Wyatt Earp.

[edit] Quotes

Yellow Claw #1 (Oct., 1956). Cover art by Maneely
Yellow Claw #1 (Oct., 1956). Cover art by Maneely

.Stan Lee: (If Maneely had lived) "...he would have been another Jack Kirby. He would have been the best you could imagine".[2]

Atlas/Marvel artist and colorist Stan Goldberg: "I was in the Bullpen with a lot of well-known artists who worked up there at that time. We had our Bullpen up there until about 1958 or '59. [sic; the Bullpen staff was let go in 1957] The guys ... who actually worked nine-to-five and put in a regular day, and not the freelance guys who'd come in a drop off their work ... were almost a hall of fame group of people. There was John Severin. Bill Everett. Carl Burgos. There was the all-time great Joe Maneely, who unfortunately died at the age of 32 and who I thought was the best artist that ever drew comics. ... Joe wasn't just a great craftsman, he worked so fast and he was one of the few artists who could go from drawing the Black Knight to drawing Petey The Pest, or a war story. He had an unbelievable knack and he was just one sweet, nice guy."[5]

Herb Trimpe: "The Black Knight stuff is great! Marie (Severin) said his pencils were almost nonexistent; they were like rough, lightly done layouts with no features on the faces ... It was just like ovals and sticks and stuff, and he inked from that. He drew when he inked. That's when he did the work, in the inking!"[6]

Fred Hembeck: "While we may've heard of the pivotal day a young Romita spent with the tragically doomed yet immensely talented artist Joe Maneely, listening to him describe it as one of the most important days of his entire life gives the familiar tale an added gravity".[7]

[edit] List of Maneely reprints

Marvel Comics reprints of 1950s Atlas Comics stories. Stories starring specific characters are followed by anthological genre stories. Listed chronologically within categories, from date of earliest original publication.


The Apache Kid

Western Gunfighters #8 (April 1971): "The Comanches Strike" (Apache Kid, issue n.a.)
Western Gunfighters #10 (July 1972): "The Human Sacrifice" (Apache Kid, issue n.a.)

The Black Knight

Fantasy Masterpieces #11 (Oct. 1967): "The Menace of Modred the Evil" (Black Knight #1, May 1955)
Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (Dec. 1967): "The Abduction of King Arthur" (Black Knight #1)
Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March 1968) and The Golden Age of Marvel Comics (1997) ISBN 0-7851-0564-6: Untitled; first
line "From out of the north..." (Black Knight #2, July 1955)
Marvel Super-Heroes #14 (May 1968): "Tournament of Doom" (Black Knight #2)
Marvel Super-Heroes #15 (July 1968): "The Siege of Camelot" (Black Knight #2)
Marvel Super-Heroes #16 (Sept. 1968): "The Black Knight Unmasked!" (Black Knight #3, Sept. 1955; title per cover)
Marvel Super-Heroes #19 (March 1969): Untitled; reference sources list as "Modred and the Gypsies" a.k.a. "The Knight
and the Gypsies" (Black Knight #3)

The Crusader

Savage Tales #2 (Oct. 1973): Untitled five-page origin story (Black Knight #1, May 1955)
Savage Tales #4 (May 1974): Untitled five-page origin story, Part Two (Black Knight #2, July 1955)

Matt Slade, Gunfighter

Western Gunfighters #8 (April 1971): Untitled; first line "For his skill with guns..." (Matt Slade, Gunfighter, issue n.a.)

The RIngo Kid

(information to come)

Tharn (renamed from) Lo-Zar

Jungle Action Vol. 2, #1 (Oct. 1972): "The Trail of Sudden Death" (Jungle Action #1, Oct. 1954)
Jungle Action Vol. 2, #2 (Dec. 1972): "The River of No Return" (Jungle Action #2, Dec. 1954; original title: "Red Poison")
Jungle Action Vol. 2, #3 (Feb. 1973): "Elephant Charge" (Jungle Action #4, April 1955)

The Two-Gun Kid

Mighty Marvel Western #37 (Feb. 1975): "Mystery in Mustang Mesa" (Two-Gun Kid #42, June 1958)
Mighty Marvel Western #41 (Sept. 1975): "The Gun-Fighter" (Two-Gun Kid #42, June 1958)
Mighty Marvel Western #42 (Oct. 1975): Untitled; first line "It started out as a humdrum stagecoach..." (Two-Gun Kid #41, April 1958)
Mighty Marvel Western #43 (Dec. 1975): "Gun-Fight in Crow Town!" (Two-Gun Kid #41, April 1958)
Mighty Marvel Western #44 (March 1976): "Origin of the Two-Gun Kid (Two-Gun Kid #41, April 1958)
Two-Gun Kid #124 (June 1976): "The Giant of Rawhide Ridge" (Two-Gun Kid #42, June 1958)
Two-Gun Kid #104 (May 1972): "Gunfight at Gila Rock" (Two-Gun Kid #43, Aug. 1958)
Clay Harder story with costume redrawn as Matt Clay's

Yellow Claw

Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #1 (Sept. 1974): "The Coming of the Yellow Claw" (Yellow Claw #1, Oct. 1956)
Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu #2 (Dec. 1974): "The Yellow Claw Strikes" and "Trap For Jimmy Woo" (both Yellow Claw #1)

Horror (anthological)

Monsters on the Prowl #26 (Oct. 1973): "Where?" (Adventures into Weird Worlds #5, April 1952)
Chamber of Chills #15 (March 1975): "I was Locked in a ... Haunted House" (Uncanny Tales #7, April 1953)
Beware #3 (July 1973): "Today I am a Man" (source n.a.; year 1954 per copyright data)
Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 (May 1975): "The Man with No Past" a.k.a. "A Man with No Past" (Journey into Mystery #21, Jan. 1955)
Fear #9 (Aug. 1972): "Dead Man's Escape!" (Adventures into Terror #11, date n.a.)
Crypt of Shadows #2 (March 1973): "Going ... Down!" (reprinted from n.a.)

Western (anthological)

Western Gunfighters #2 (Oct. 1970): "The Man from Cheyenne" (Quick-Trigger Western #13, July 1956)
Kid Colt, Outlaw #150 (Oct. 1970): "A Desperado at our Door" (Kid Colt, Outlaw #68, Jan. 1957)
Kid Colt, Outlaw #142 (Jan. 1970): Cover and "Rustler" (Kid Colt, Outlaw #73, June 1957)
Kid Colt, Outlaw #144 (March 1970): Cover (Kid Colt, Outlaw #77, March 1958)
Kid Colt, Outlaw #151 (Dec. 1970): "The Coward" (Kid Colt, Outlaw #81, Nov. 1958)
Kid Colt, Outlaw #160 (July 1972): "35 Notches" (reprinted from n.a.)

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Birth date per Social Security Death Index, which lists only "June 1958" for death date. Full death date per Daniels, Les, Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1991), p. 70 (sidebar) ISBN 0-8109-3821-9
  2. ^ a b c Ro, Ronin. Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2004)
  3. ^ Social Security History: "John's First Job"
  4. ^ Daniels, Les, Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1991), p. 70 (sidebar) ISBN 0-8109-3821-9
  5. ^ Adelaide Comics and Books: Stan Goldberg interview (April 2005)
  6. ^ Herb Trimple interview in Comic Book Artist #13 (May 2001), p. 62
  7. ^ Hembeck.com: Fred Sez (column, May 2003)

[edit] References

[edit] External links