Freedom Agent lasted exactly one issue. Here is the cover story by Alberto Giolitti, who did the penciling and inking throughout. I would bet dollars to doughnuts he did the coloring as well. I include this story here because Giolitti's work in this story is very striking.
I love Giolitti's precision and dark color pallet. He also liked shadows, which was appropriate for this cold-war tale of espionage and bizarre state secrets. This is from Freedom Agent No. 1, April, 1963. All scans are from my own comic. Just click the image for the big picture.
I love Giolitti's precision and dark color pallet. He also liked shadows, which was appropriate for this cold-war tale of espionage and bizarre state secrets. This is from Freedom Agent No. 1, April, 1963. All scans are from my own comic. Just click the image for the big picture.
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12 comments:
Very Food of the Gods. At least the giant chickens are. I believe Col. Sanders was working on that at the time of his death. That and the patent for a ginormous pressure-cooker.
i'd never heard of this one, great art, pretty brutal, too bad it was a one-ish deal...
that kills me someone got paid to paint a giant chicken! dangit! it would be the ultimate dream job.
Thanks for coming by, Gentlemen!
Aaron: The only problem with giant chickens as food is chickens that big would see us as food. That beast on the cover would take the Col. down in a couple of pecks. Did you notice the bunny rabit kicking the crap out of that pack of hunding dogs on the splash panel?
Prof.: I had the same thought. What a shame it only lasted a single ish. The other two stories in this issue were both by Giolitti, who I really, really like. What a wasted concept! A secret agent injected with a giantism formula! I love it. I loved the panels were Steele is naked (except for towel) and huge. Very powerful.
Keith: Some guys get all the luck! I wish I knew who did the cover, but I wouldn't be a bit suprised if it was Giolitti as well. When Gold Key gave an artist an assignment, they often did everything but script. Lucky so-in-so! -- Mykal
I probably would have passed on this issue originally, but it was actually a fun read with great artwork.
Who would of thunk it!
Chuck: When rummaging through my possible picks for this post, I noticed the panel with John Steele, now a giant in a bathtowel, towering over the guards and the professor. Bang! Straight to the scanner!
I am so happy you liked this one. The fact that you might not have ever known about it save for this post makes my day. Hell, that captures my mission statement for this blog in a nutshell! -- Mykal
That was neat! One issue only huh? Bummer...It was kind of vague if he stayed a giant or what, unless that was supposed to be him in the purple suit at the end. Intriguing indeed! Wish there was more of these comics. BTW, like some of the others, you had me at GIANT CHICKEN...
Great post, Mykal!
Yet another artist I never heard of doing a better than average job -- I love the details like all the military officers caps at the top of page two(?) etc., and I agree that the giant running around in the towel/sheet was...unique to say the least! That towel was in danger of falling off at any critical moment -- in fact, that would have been quite a distraction in itself -- thank God for secure adhesives!!
Apocolyte: Thanks for noticing that cool little panel with all the hats! I meant to make mention of that in my post, but it was beginning to feel a bit long winded. I love little touches like that. Not only was it very well drawn, it was just a clever way to clue us in what a high level meeting was going on. I really love that artist, Alberto Giolitti. He did a some Turok, Son of Stone, and a bunch of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery and Twilight Zone issues as well.
I think John Steele makes himself normal size again at the end with the dead professor's last bit of antidote. His mission was to save the doctor and safeguard the secret of gigantism. With the professor dead the serum secret died with him, and then as Steele destroys the gigantism antibody in himself with the antidote, there is no chance it will again fall into enemy hand.
Naturally, America would never stoop so low as to turn such a serum into a weapon ourselves ;-).
There was also a John Steele, Secret Agent title, but that was only 1 issue as well. I am going to have to scare that one up, I think.
Crap, this comment was longer than my post! talk about long winded!
Thanks as always for your thoughts and insights, and to everyone else that chimed in, too! -- Mykal
This is probably my favorite comic book cover with a chicken on it!
Probably? ;-)
I think in the first panel where we see John Steele (page 2) he looks a bit like a young Darren McGavin (Kolchak). It's the little touches that add so much too: the slightly open top drawer on the file cabinet (p.7) and the seemingly accurate depictions of old Eastern Bloc machine guns. A real shame this was not a continuing series.
r/e
RE: The reaction to this story (as well as my own reaction to it) has been so strong that I will have to post the other two stories from that one, sad, glorious issue. Yes, it's a shame it didn't go on. -- Mykal
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