Pete Tumlinson
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Pete Tumlinson was an American book illustrator and a comic book artist whose worked appeared from the late 1940s through the 1950s in titles published by the Marvel Comics predecessors Timely Comics and Atlas Comics. His work there includes most of the early stories of the Western hero Kid Colt.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life and career
Pete Tumlinson attended Texas A&M University, where he originated a cartoon character, "Old Sarge", who remained an unofficial student mascot adorning the likes of stickers and coffee mugs decades later.[1]
His earliest confirmed comic-book work is penciling "I Hate My Husband!", an eight-page story (either co-penciled with or inked by George Klein) in the Timely Comics romance title My Own Romance #7 (July 1949). Other early credits include stories in such Western-romance comics as Cowboy Romances #3 (March 1950) and, tentatively credited, Rangeland Love #2 (March 1950). Some sources credit Tumlinson with a small amount of work on the masked-crimefighter series Blonde Phantom in 1948,[2] and in the mythological-superheroine series Venus #6 (Aug. 1949).[3] Another source cites early, uncredited work in D.S. Publishing's 1948-1949 crime comic Gangsters Can't Win and the Western feature "Nuggets Nugent" in Orbit Publications' 1948-1951 The Westerner Comics.[4]
[edit] Atlas Comics
Shortly after this, publisher Martin Goodman's comics division had gone from being known as Timely Comics to Atlas Comics. There Tumlinson was the primary artist on Kid Colt, Outlaw from issues #14-24 (May 1951 - Jan. 1953) before turning over the reins, figuratively speaking, to the character's longtime signature artist, Jack Keller. Tumlinson had previously drawn an anthological Western story, "The Magic of Manitou", for Kid Colt, Outlaw #13 (March 1951). Later, Tumlinson drew Western stories for Atlas' Outlaw Fighters, Two-Gun Western and Wild Western.
With the popularity of horror comics in the early to mid-1950s, Tumlinson produced a number of such stories for Atlas titles including Astonishing, Journey into Mystery, Journey Into Unknown Worlds, Marvel Tales, Mystery Tales, Mystic, Strange Tales, and Uncanny Tales. One story, "In the Dead of Night" by writer Hank Chapman and artist Tumlinson, appeared in issue #11 (Nov. 1951) of Suspense, an anthology based on the CBS radio program.[5]
His work in other genres spanned from stories in war comics, such as Battle, to the Biblical story "Cain and Abel" in Bible Tales for Young Folk #5 (March 1954). Tumlinson's last recorded comics credit is the four-page story "The Last Chance", in Marvel Tales #141 (Dec. 1955).
[edit] Later career
Tumlinson left comics after the mid-1950s to work in the book illustration. His work there includes the dust-jacket art for Little League Old-Timers, by Don Creighton (Steck-Vaughn Company, Austin, Texas, 1967).
[edit] Reprints
Tumlinson's art found a latter-day audience in the 1970s, when Marvel Comics reprinted some of his Atlas horror stories. Chronological by earliest original appearance:
- "The Man Who Went Back": Journey into Mystery #18 (Oct. 1954)
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- Giant-Size Werewolf #3 (Jan. 1975)
- "Emily": Marvel Tales #128 (Nov. 1954)
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- Chamber of Chills #14 (Jan. 1975)
- "Greed": Astonishing #36 (Dec. 1954)
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- Weird Wonder Tales #5 (Aug. 1974)
- "One Man's Leprechaun" (tentatively identified as Tumlinson): Marvel Tales #146 (May 1956)
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- Weird Wonder Tales #20 (Jan. 1977)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ ProfitFrog.com: "Profitable Hobbies: The Cup that Overflowed into a Business"
- ^ Comicartville.com: "Esoteric Atlas: Bible Tales for Young Folk", by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo (2002)
- ^ The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators: "Venus (1948-1952)"
- ^ The Lambiek Comiclopedia: Pete Tumlinson
- ^ Grams, Martin, Jr. Suspense: Twenty Years of Thrills and Chills (Morris Publishing, 1998) ISBN-10 1575026759, ISBN-13 978-1575026756
