Bob Powell

Bob Powell (1916-1967) was an American comic book artist known for his work during the 1930's "Golden Age Of Comic Books" through the 1960's.

After studying art at Pratt Institute, Powell, like many comics artists in the late 1930's, found work at the Eisner & Iger Studios one of the most prominent "packagers" who supplied complete comic books to publishers. As part of the studio, Powell drew many of the earliest adventures of the jungle-queen Sheena in Jumbo Comics. Later, after Will Eisner split off to form his own studio in an arrangement with Quality publisher Everett “Busy” Arnold he brought Powell, Nick Cardy and Lou Fine with him.

Powell's work in the 1950's included features and covers for Street and Smith's Shadow Comics, Magazine Enterprises Bobby Bensons Bar B Que Riders and and all four issues of that publisher's Strong Man; and, for Harvey Comics many war, romance, and horror stories, as well as work for the comics Man in Black, Adventures in 3-D and True 3-D.

In 1961, Powell became art director for Sick magazine working there until his death. On a freelance basis, he worked on Topp's 1962 Mars Atacks trading cards, doing the final pencil art based on early pencils roughs by Wally Wood, Norman Saunders then did the final painted art. During the 1960's Powell drew a handful of stories featuring the Daredevil, Giant-Man, the Hulk and the Human Torch for Marvel Comics.

Cave Girl

More Bob Powell Greatness with Cave Girl

From Magazine Enterprises. Powell like

Bill Everett was an artist who's work in my

opinion really peaked in the 50's.

A Thunda story above from the same issue

And Below one Of the Strangest Ads ever in Comic Books

Bob Powell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Powell_%28comics%29

The Devil Boat

And Here's More Cave Girl

With "The Devil Boat" With Art 

By The Fantastic Bob Powell 

From 1953!

 And From The Same

Issue Here's Thunda

Also By Bob Powell

My Heroine Addiction : Cave Girl

For most of the Golden Age there was a subgenre of comics that was dependable and commercial; jungle tales. Damned near every publisher had a strip that featured a white jungle lord or princess. To share any of this stuff we need to face the basic fact that these works are fundamentally racist. In almost every case the Caucasian lead is superior to the dark skinned native population. Typically the lead is fair and just whereas the aboriginals are cruel and savage. Now if were can admit this sin and judge the tales solely on the quality of the narrative and the art, then some features were better than the rest. One of these, in my opinion, was the Magazine Enterprises comic CAVE GIRL.

 

The feature ran for four issues beginning in 1953 as a kind of companion book to THUNDA. The latter title was a heavily Burroughs influenced strip that was co-created by Gardner Fox and Frank Frazetta. 

Frank only did the first issue and then the art chores were given to the talented veteran, Bob Powell. Powell had been a co-creator of the queen of the female jungle characters, Sheena. His chores on Thunda combined with his long stint on Sheena made Powell the obvious choice to guide the new strip. Like Thunda, Cave Girl was highly informed by the work of ERB. She was a feral child just as Tarzan was and was in confrontation with Neanderthal beings similar to those populated in Burroughs fiction. Here then is the initial story from issue 11, which despite the numbering was the debut book.

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