Brand Echh – T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #10 – The Tom Brevoort Experience
It’s been a long time since we last looked at the unique work produced by veteran creator Manny Stallman on the short-lived Raven strip that ran in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for the Tower Comics imprint. As opposed to the rest of the title, which was steeped in the clean and elegant linework of creator Wally Wood, Stallman’s work owed more to that of Harvey Kurtzman. It was impressionistic, stylized, wildly cartoony and drenched in black shadows. It truly looked and read like nothing else in the Silver Age–and consequently, fans of the era hated it.
And in truth, even today, Stallman’s style is something of an acquired taste. I can remember being repulsed by it when I was first collecting these THUNDER Agents books in my teen years. It seemed muddy and dirty to my eye, uncontrolled and strange. The stories were pretty weird, too. I only grew an appreciation for the boldness of the presentation in later years.
This earlier Raven story hews to fairly basic, straightforward storytelling, but within a few issues, Stallman would begin playing around with panel layouts and pacing in the manner of the great Bernard Krigstein, if not with the same mastery. But these experiments also evoke the work of Will Eisner, who would similarly stretch just what the medium could do while still telling an engaging story.
Stallman also did his own sound effects, integrating them into the artwork in a pretty effective manner. I’m not certain, but it’s also possible that he did his own lettering as well, the lettering in the Raven strip didn’t seem to match any of the rest of the book.
Stallman’s redesign for Raven is absolutely bananas as well. Gone are the simple underarm winglets of the character’s first story, replaced by a pair of concave wings so large that they can encase the character completely in a protective shell. They looked less like wings and more like the halves of a colossal ball that Raven was carrying around on his back. If Hawkman had trouble fitting through doorways, Raven could barely fit into a garage.
I find Stallman’s work fascinating, at once entirely out of step with what was then popular in the world of super hero comics books and uncompromisingly devoted to its own unique vision. At a time when some comics had begun to feel a bit like plastic products, Stallman’s work was utterly unique.
Just look at this insane page. It’s at once repulsive and transfixing.
Stallman only produced five Raven stories before the strip was given over to more commercial hands. I’m sure we’ll return to this series again in the months to come.
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