Harry Sahle

Infobox comics creator


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deathdate = circa 1954
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nationality = American
area = Penciler, Inker, Editor, Cartoonist
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notable works = Timely Comics' "Black Widow"
Quality Comics' "Candy"
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Harry F. Sahle (died circa 1954) [http://lambiek.net/artists/s/sahle_harry.htm The Lambiek Comiclopedia: Harry Sahle] ] was an American comic book artist who drew for such publishers as Archie Comics, Quality Comics and Marvel Comics-precursor Timely Comics during the late-1930s-to-1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books.

In 1940, with writer George Kapitan, Sahle co-created the Timely character the Black Widow, comics' first costumed, superpowered female protagonist. [ [http://www.toonopedia.com/blwidow1.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Black Widow (1940)] ] Sahle also created early teen-humor character Candy, writing and drawing her comic misadventures for most of the character's 1944 to 1956 run in Quality Comics' "Police Comics" and her own solo title. [http://www.toonopedia.com/candy.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Candy] ]

Biography

Early career

Harry Sahle drew gag cartoons for "Boy's Life" magazine between 1938 and 1939, [http://www.bailsprojects.com/(S(4pszsy20oexeeq55fizzo4ym))/bio.aspx?Name=Sahle%2c+Harry Hames Ware and Jerry Bails' "Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999": Harry Sahle] . Accessed September 5, 2008] before entering the fledgling medium of comic books via the Harry "A" Chesler Studio and Funnies Inc., two Manhattan-based "packagers" that provided complete, outsourced comics for the early publishers. Among his earliest comics work is a cover produced by Sahle for the first and only issue of Pelican Publications "Green Giant Comics" (Jan. 1940), [ [http://www.comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=119026 Comic Book Database: "Green Giant Comics" #1] Accessed September 7, 2008] Miller, J. J., Thompson, Maggie, Bickford, Peter & Frankenhoff, Brent, "The Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books", 4th Edition (KP Books, 2005) - "Green Giant Comics", p. 635]

His earliest known interior credit is inking the seven-page Fiery Mask superhero story "The Jelly of Doom", over George Kapitan's pencil art, in Timely Comics' "Daring Mystery Comics" #5 (June 1940). With Kapitan writing and himself penciling and inking, Sahle co-created the Black Widow in "Mystic Comics" #4 (Aug. 1940). Not to be confused with the superhero Black Widow introduced in the 1960s by Timely's descendent Marvel Comics, this character — comics' first costumed, superpowered female protagonist — was a supernatural antihero who gathered deserving souls for Satan. [ [http://www.toonopedia.com/blwidow1.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Black Widow] ]

Other early work includes co-creating the winged superhero the Air Man in Centaur Publications' "Keen Detective Funnies" #23 (Aug. 1940), and working as assistant to Carl Burgos, creator-artist of Timely star the Human Torch; per fellow artist and Golden Age contemporary Gil Kane, Sahle was also occasionally a ghost artist on work credited to Burgos in issues of "Marvel Mystery Comics", "Captain America Comics", and the eponymous character's own title, "Human Torch". [http://twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/11spillane.html Roy Thomas interviews Mickey Spillane for "Alter Ego" #11 (TwoMorrows)] . Accessed September 5, 2008]

MLJ Comics

Artist Gil Kane recalled that after the writers and artists Charles Biro, Bob Wood, Bob Montana and several others left MLJ Comics to move to Lev Gleason Publications, it fell largely to Irv Novick to steer MLJs stable of superhero characters.Thomas, Roy (ed.) "Alter Ego: The Comic Book Artist Collection", (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001), ISBN 1893905063, p. 151] Shortly afterward, Harry Sahle joined the company, working on characters including The Black Hood, Steel Sterling, and The Shield between 1942 and 1943, and soon thereafter working on the character that was to become MLJ's breakout success: Archie Andrews.

With the departure of Montana, the character's signature early developer, Sahle, recalled Kane, drew "what became the new Archie character.... [H] is work was based on Montana, but with adaptation and interpretation". Sahle drew some of the earliest stories featuring what would become the company's namesake character, beginning by at least "Archie Comics" #3 (Summer 1943).

Thanks to his work, "Sahle became the center point [of MLJ/Archie] , and Novick went into the Army", recalled Kane, who believes Sahle worked for MLJ for a year-and-a-half before joining the Army himself. Upon his return, Sahle was hired away from MLJ by "Busy" Arnold and his Quality Comics.

Candy

Sahle went on to create the Quality Comics teen-humor feature "Candy," starring typical small-town American girl Candace O'Connor of Hartwick, USA. Her supporting cast included her boyfriend, Ted Dawson; her rival, Cornelia Clyde; and gal-pals Tina and Trish. Debuting as a backup feature in "Police Comics" #37 (Dec. 1944), "Candy" featured in the title until issue #102 (Oct. 1950), when the regular line-up of characters (including Candy, Will Eisner's The Spirit, etc.) were dropped, and the title became a "regular crime comic."Miller, J. J., Thompson, Maggie, Bickford, Peter & Frankenhoff, Brent, "The Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books", 4th Edition (KP Books, 2005) - "Police Comics", p. 1063] Candy continued to star in her own title, "Candy", which ran 64 issues (Fall 1947 - July 1956). ["The CBG Standard Catalog of Comic Books", 4th ed., p. 279-280] Six months after the title ceased publication, Quality Comics as a whole closed its doors.

In addition to Candy's comic book adventures, Sahle and writer Elmer Groggin produced a "Candy" newspaper comic strip syndicated by the "Chicago Times" Syndicate from October 2, 1944. Sometime during 1945, Sahle's strip was then taken over by Tom Dorr, who continued it for a further 25 years.

Much of Sahle's work was produced in the teen-humor genre, and during the 1940s he also drew another feature, "Ezra," for Quality's "Military Comics" and "Modern Comics" titles.

Mike Hammer

Crime novelist Mickey Spillane, who worked for Lloyd Jacquet's Funnies Inc. packager during the 1930s and 1940s, teamed with Sahle on a number of occasions, including on the character "Mike Danger", which Spillane described as "the original concept of Mike Hammer", the archetypal hardboiled detective of mid-20th century paperback novels. After Spillane's novels were successful, some "Mike Danger" stories saw print in issues of "Crime Detector" in 1954, and new stories featuring the character were published by Tekno Comics four decades later.

Sahle and Spillance had earlier collaborated on the eponymous feature "Mike Lancer", starring a Mike Hammer prototype, [Per novelist and crime-comics historian Max Allan Collins in [http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=2570 Grand Comics Database: "Green Hornet Comics" #10 (Dec. 1942)] ] published in Harvey Comics' "Green Hornet Comics" #10 (Dec. 1942).

Reprints

Several issues of Sahle's "Candy" were reprinted, in breach of copyright, in the late 1950s/early 1960s by Israel Waldman's Super Comics imprint, but her adventures have otherwise remained out of print. In the late 1980s, Eclipse Comics reprinted Sahle's 1940s aviator feature "Bald Eagle" in "Air Fighters Classics" #1-2 (Nov. 1987 - Dec. 1988). Some Sahle work appears in the anthology "Marvel Mystery Comics" #1 (Dec. 1999). and the hardcover collections "Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner, Vol. 1" and "Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch, Vol. 1" (both 2005).

Death

Gil Kane believed Sahle died during World War II. Comics historians Jerry Bails and Hames Ware placed Sahle's death circa 1954. Certainly the bulk of Sahle's work was produced during the early-to-mid 1940s, with a slowdown toward the early 1950s, and a total cessation of published materials, barring reprints, by around 1954.

Footntoes

References

* [http://www.comics.org/search.lasso?type=credit&query=sahle&sort=chrono&Submit=Search Grand Comics Database: Harry Sahle]

External links

* [http://www.cbgxtra.com/default.aspx?tabid=42&view=topic&forumid=70&postid=14862 Hagenauer, George ("Comics Buyer's Guide" original-art columnist), "Mickey Spillane's First Private Eye Comic - Harry Sahle Art"] , CBGXtra.com, August 29, 2006. Note: Item identifies "Mike Lancer" art as from "Green Hornet Comics" #9. However, Grand Comics Database lists no "Mike Lancer" feature in that issue, and the comic's cover-listing of features does not mention it. "Mike Lancer" does appear in issue #10.