The Other Cole

We can argue about the ranking, but if Jack Cole is not on your short list of important comic book artists, you need another list. Whether you're scoring on innovation, influence or quality, Jack Cole is one of the first names that comes to mind.

But when you talk great Golden artists named Cole, you need to be more specific. You certainly don't want to leave out L.B.

According to Toonopedia:

L.B. Cole was one of the most highly-acclaimed cover designers in the history of American comic books. Working with the philosophy that the cover is essentially an advertising poster, and its only purpose is to draw the shopper's attention and make him want to buy the comic, he created dozens if not hundreds of the most striking covers of the 1940s and early '50s, usually for small, off-brand publishers that had little going for them other than the work of Cole himself. But his work on inside pages is relatively unknown.

Except in Mippyville.

Look at the way Cole works with the medium in the story below, his composition, his use of effects like transparency, the way he plays with the panels, changing their shape and letting characters break through the border.

And (assuming that L.B. wrote the story), check out the unexpected direction he takes the deformed German villain.









From Super-Mystery v3 #5