Quality
Comics was one of the most successful publishing houses of the Golden
Age. That name was not mere hyperbole but it truly reflected the kind
of work done by an exceptional artistic bullpen. The stars included
Lou Fine, Reed Crandall and Will Eisner. Another name was Bill Ward.
Ward was noted for his work on many of the company’s top selling
titles like Dollman and Blackhawk. In MODERN COMICS he helped
originate the salacious strip “Torchy”, a humor feature that was
heavy on the cheesecake.
A
more casual and modern comics reader might be familiar with Ward from
the humor jobs he did for the B&W Mad imitator “Cracked”.
You’d surely remember the curvy, huge breasted sex-kittens that he
infused into every strip. He also worked on Marvel’s adult B&W
comic “The Adventures Of Pussycat” as well as doing single panel
gags for the Adult magazine “From Sex To Sexty”
Ward’s
talent for illustrating the female form made him a natural fit for
Romance comics. Admittedly though, the strong female readership for
these magazines forced him to be a bit more realistic with regard to
the gal’s body size. Witness his lovely work on “Bitter Years”
Mr.
Ward passed away in 1998 at the age of 79
Pat
Most of my exposure to Ward's art has been via the cartoon gags and humorama strips, which was pretty awful stuff. I am surprised at how much I liked these.
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