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Weird Menace: The 1930s rise of the Shudder Pulps followed by the rise of the forces that ended them and transformed horror on the newsstand.
Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Alex Schomburg, Brick Bradford, golden age, Standard Publications
Classic Schomburg Robot Cover on Brick Bradford #6, Up for Auction
Schomburg's covers for Standard/Better/Nedor have steadily commanded more attention, such as his classic robot cover for Brick Bradford #6.
Article Summary
- Explore Alex Schomburg's unique artistry, Stan Lee compared him to Norman Rockwell for comics.
- Delve into the character Brick Bradford's origins and its comic book adaptation.
- Discover Schomburg's extensive cover work for Standard/Better/Nedor publishers.
- Brick Bradford #6 with Schomburg's robot cover a part of villain Avril Blue story arc.
In regards to the artistry of Alex Schomburg, Stan Lee may have said it best. "I've always felt that Alex Schomburg was to comic books what Norman Rockwell was to The Saturday Evening Post," Lee once noted. "He was totally unique, with an amazing distinctive style. You could never mistake a Schomburg cover for any other artist's. When it came to illustrating covers, there was simply no one else in Alex's league." Perhaps best known for his early pulp covers and his beautifully detailed artwork for Marvel/Timely covers on titles like Marvel Mystery Comics, Captain America Comics, Human Torch, and many others, Schomburg's later-era comic book covers for Standard/Better/Nedor have steadily commanded more attention in recent times, and his classic robot cover for Brick Bradford #6 is among these. There's a
Brick Bradford was a comic strip character created by writer William Ritt and artist Clarence Gray. The strip debuted in newspapers on August 21, 1933 and lasted until 1987, continued by Aquaman co-creator Paul Norris beginning in the mid-1950s. The newspaper strip material was reprinted for comic books beginning in King Comics in 1936 and Ace Comics in 1947-1949. Brick Bradford briefly got his own title from Standard Comics in 1948, and Schomburg's cover for issue #6 likely represents the giant robot created by Avil Blue, the villain of this issue.
Somewhat surprisingly, Schomburg created around 240 covers for Standard/Better/Nedor from 1940-1951, more than he did for any other comic book publisher. These including about 40 airbrushed covers 1947-1948, which are often referred to as the "Xela" covers due to Schomburg signing his work from this time frame using his first name spelled backward. But Schomburg also did penciled and inked covers that he signed Xela during this period, and his cover here is a stand-out example.
Schomburg's science fiction covers are always in demand. One of his other robot covers from this era, the infamous Bender prototype cover of Startling Comics #49, is one of the most highly-desired non-Marvel/DC comic books of the Golden Age. Another stand-out example of what made Alex Schomburg so great,
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