Is it odd to be creating a web-site for three artists whom commenced their
careers years before even your FATHER was born, much less yourself? It is a
little strange celebrating the work of three men, two of whom passed away only
two-plus years after I was born.
William Blake Everett was born on May 18, 1917 in Newton, Massachusetts.
Alex Schomburg was born May 10, 1905 in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
Syd Shores was born in 1916, passing away mere months after Bill Everett (June 3rd, 1973
for Syd; February 27th, 1973 for Bill). Alex would outlast them all, going strong until
April 7th, 1998 in Newberg, Oregon.
Forever, these three creators will be entwined in my mind, and that is why we
are here.
Trying to recall your initial comic-book memories is a difficult task. For those
of us born in the 1970s (the very top of the decade for myself), video-games, MTV and
computers did not occupy our time. Television and movies were poor substitutes for
such a grand, visual medium like comics. I say that because, until the release of
Batman in 1989, television and movies were never successful in duplicating the visual
magic of comic-books, thanks mainly to a lack of the necessary special effects.
T.V. shows like the '70s live-action Spider-Man were embarassing. The Incredible
Hulk was a wonderful dramatic piece, but every kid WANTS a super-villian who can toss
rays of whatever at the hero. Comics were 'the beans' of the '70s and I soaked them
up.
By the fall of 1979 (at the tender age of 9), I made the concerted effort to begin
REALLY collecting comics. Spider-Man was all my rage at that point, and eventually
I decided it best to finally pay attention to those names on the first page; those writers
and artists.
After obsessing on all
things STEVE DITKO, somewhere in
the early 1980s, an artist who's style was almost as unique as Ditko's caught my eye.
The artist was Bill Everett and the character was the Sub-Mariner. Whether it was from
Jules Feiffer's tome, THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES, or one particular panel in a comics
encyclopedia at my school library, Everett stood out from the bland, formula style of
his era.
Bill at his drawing table circa 1939
God only knows what inspired a 13-year-old to delve deep into the Golden Age of Comics,
but Everett was certainly the key to that door. THAT panel of which I speak is the classic one
where we see the Sub-Mariner facing us, punching the Human Torch - literally bending his
head back. The line-work was so dramatic, so perfectly detailed, it obviously laid the
groundwork for a love that would last for the ages.
But these were the days when a teenager could get Byrned for not following the
latest trends. Still, being a Marvel Zombie (well before the phrase was coined in the
late '80s) would turn out to have its advantages. While collecting George Olshevsky's
(a Toronto boy, no less) Marvel-related indexes of the X-Men and Daredevil, I happen
to run across a copy of his MARVEL COMICS INDEX.
There may not be a better introduction (or there wasn't back then) to the Golden Age
than this book of Timely covers featuring Motion Picture Funnies Weekly, Marvel Mystery
Comics, Namora, and both era's Sub-Mariner comics. While the index did reveal the
knowledge Everett had worked on the '70s Sub-Mariner series up to his passing, my
eyes poured over those earlier Golden Age covers for months on end.
I am unsure as to whether this was my introduction to Alex Schomburg (although, it is
not unlikely), but there is little doubt the covers to Sub-Mariner #21-23 and #38 were my
introduction to Syd Shores.
 
I LOVED the triangular way Syd drew the Sub-Mariner's head, and I thought Syd drew
the best Golden Age women I had ever seen. Issue #23 (Sum '47) has it all; a beautiful femme,
Sub-Mariner's great head, and another fabulous Syd monster.
I have grown affectionate for Syd's work in the past two years more than ever, but
I also feel like he deserves to be championed to some degree. He is certainly a forgotten
figure in comparison to Everett and Schomburg. Syd was the third ever employee at Timely,
behind Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (ahead of Stan Lee). His undoing was becoming the
head of the Art Department at Timely in the mid-40s. Sure, he still drew quite a bit. Heck,
he drew more Captain America adventures in the 1940s that ANYONE, but his role in fostering
the artists of tomorrow is VERY unappreciated in any telling of Timely/Atlas/Marvel history.
Syd's 1950s work, like Everett to a degree, is very undervalued. Syd was a champion of the
romance and Western genre. He, like Everett, could do it all, and it is about time someone
stood up and said so.
 There is hardly any need to champion Alex
Schomburg's work. You don't know Timely if you don't know Alex's work. He was literally the
poster boy for the company, doing around 200 covers in a seven (or so) year span for Timely
alone. Alex did win every major award for science fiction art, as well as comic-book art,
from the Hugo Award to the Inkpot to the Lensman. And comics and science fiction weren't
his only bag. He began drawing intricate covers for Radio Craft magazine and airplane covers
for Flying Aces. Alex excelled in every genre he touched. It has only been in this past
decade that I have come to realize Alex is far more known for his Science Fiction work. I was
quite shocked to realize even Alex prefers his science fiction work vs. his comic-book work.
It was in the sci-fi genre Alex felt he produced his best work.
 Nuts to that, says the comic fan. His covers
were beautifully-controlled chaos. They
had more than the eye could possibly handle in one setting. And yet,
versus Image books of today, Alex's Timely covers look positively lacking in detail by
comparison. Alex was the consumate cover artist, yet he never relied on simple pin-up
art so prevalent today. His extreme detail was economical and well-reasoned, rather than
a bunch of lines, there only to fool the eye into believing quality and depth is present.
His World War II covers perfectly captured the frenzy of war, and they undoubtabely
helped galvanize the comic-buying nation during such turbulent times.
 And when one speaks of the unrealized, one can
only speak of Bill Everett's 1950s
horror work. Schomburg may have gotten the nod as the cover artist of the 1940s, but
clearly Mr. Everett is the undisputed champion of the 1950s. Bill's cover work for
Atlas in the 1950s is only paralelled, in my humble opinion, by the work of Steve Ditko.
While the present day Marvel chips away, reprinting their Golden Age material, an
illustrious opportunity awaits once they wake up and start reprinting their horror
work from the 1950s. At that point, Bill will be front and center as the man of the
decade.
I purchased my first-ever Bill Everett Sub-Mariner book (#39 - Apr '55) at a Toronto
Comic Convention in 1984, and I never looked back. Everett was such the genius that, once
I started grabbing his 1970s Sub-Mariner work, I truly believe he was at his peak when he
passed away. Some of his '70s Sub-Mariner work is THAT good, as examples on this
site will show. He, too, is an unheralded master of other genres, from romance to war
to westerns. He passed away, as did Syd, far too young. Had he lived as long as Alex,
Bill would have been fetted as befits his legend.
All three artists were born as creators into the Golden Age; all connect around the
Sub-Mariner character; all worked for the same company for the times they were entrenched
in the comics' field. All three were simply brilliant artists.
This seems like a superior groups of reasons to fete all three - here, together,
for all time - for all generations that follow to witness and remember their brilliance.
They influenced so many, and will never be forgotten.
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