A BIRTHDAY SALUTE in 13 WONDROUS PAGES…
By PETER BOSCH
Reed Crandall (born Feb. 22, 1917) was a master of many genres, whether it was drawing science fiction, horror, war, or swashbuckling period stories. His Blackhawk was without peer, and his work on other titles showed exceptional artistry, including when he was assigned the adventures of superheroes.
One such hero was the Ray for Quality Comics. The Ray was the co-creation of Will Eisner and artist Lou Fine, appearing for the first time in Smash Comics #14 (Sept. 1940). Due to a heavy workload, Fine stepped away from the feature after several issues and Crandall came in… and, oh, boy, did he do a majestic job!
To celebrate Crandall’s birthday 108 years ago, here are 13 examples of his dynamic art on the Ray:
(Writers are unknown.)
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Smash Comics #24 (July 1941)
Smash Comics #24
Smash Comics #25 (Aug. 1941)
Smash Comics #26 (Sept. 1941)
Smash Comics #26
Smash Comics #27 (Oct. 1941)
Smash Comics #28 (Nov. 1941)
Smash Comics #28
Smash Comics #29 (Dec. 1941)
Smash Comics #29
Smash Comics #35 (Sept. 1942)
Smash Comics #35
Smash Comics #37 (Nov. 1942)
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MORE
— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 Favorite REED CRANDALL BLACKHAWK Covers. Click here.
— INSIDE LOOK: REED CRANDALL’S EC STORIES Artist’s Edition. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is due in 2025. (You can pre-order here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.
February 22, 2025
Hi Peter,
Jesus! I will confess I am not all familiar with Reed Crandall (d. 1982–as I Wikipedia him), but just that very first image with that splash page is just knock-your-socks-off magnificent!
The elegant line work, that amazing dynamic S-curve passing through the Ray, the horse, our lady and the gent on the ground, and the general well-crafted realism are just stunning. That image alone already floored me.
But every page is spectacular: The quality of the drawing esp. with the organic naturalism of the bodies would not have made me guess this was drawn in the 1940s, esp. as working conditions for comic artists didn’t typically allow for artistry like this (I can think of these as more early 1960s in the company of other excellent visual realists like Joe Jubert and Gil Kane).
Every single page you have included here is a real treat. Thanks for introducing me to such visual excellence! I’m downloading all of these for my personal collection. Thank you, thank you!
February 22, 2025
William, Quality Comics lived up to their name. They had a treasure chest of great artists at the time: Lou Fine, Crandall, Jack Cole, Nick Cardy, Al Bryant, Will EIsner, Paul Gustavson,Klaus Nordling, Alex Kotzky, Bob Powell, and Bill Ward to name a few.
February 22, 2025
Hi Peter,
Lou Fine, Nick Cardy and Will Eisner are artists I’m familiar with. But Reed is a new revelation here. Okay then. I just assumed “Quality Comics” was just branding–just a company name. Great to know that the name also instituted an ethos at the said company.
Thanks!
February 22, 2025
The UK publisher PS Artbooks has already published Vol. 1 of a Black Condor/Ray volume, and a Vol. 2 was already solicited. Release date of those books is always kind of hazy, but I have my order in and am resigned to seeing it when I see it.
February 23, 2025
https://www.psartbooks.com/
Glad you mentioned this publisher. Stories work out to about $10/ea. The comments on shipping issues from some buyers has me weary however. What was your firsthand experience?
February 23, 2025
I’ve ordered from them 3 times.
Back in August, I ordered 5 Plastic Man volumes from them. Weeks — maybe months — dragged on without an order update or a shipping notice. I got an automated email from them one day asking me to review my order, and that’s when I emailed them to say, “Your automated email believes that I’ve received my order, but I have not.” After a little back and forth with a customer service agent, I got an assurance my books should ship soon. Not too long after, they did ship, and they took about as long from England as I would have guessed. When they finally got here, the box looked like it had been through absolute hell. It was like a few box molecules were strung together still trying their best to approximate the size and sense of being a box. But, against all odds, I have to admit that the books inside were PRISTINE. I don’t know how they managed.
Buoyed by an ultimately positive experience, I ordered another book shortly after. That book, I have to say, was shipped almost immediately, arrived very quickly, and was delivered in a nice strong box that was still very much a box.
On Black Friday 2024, I ordered another handful of books, and my experience was more like my first time: After weeks of no communication, I got a notice asking me to review my purchases, I emailed customer service inquiring about my order, and they told me that they were waiting on one of my books to return to their inventory and expected to ship my order in the next week. And once again, they were true to that. They shipped my order, my box finally reached the U.S., and this time from what I could tell from the tracking, it bounced all around the country east of the Mississippi. It went from NJ to NY to PA to GA to OH (yes, OH) to NC. When it arrived, the box looked again like it had been through absolute hell. But the books inside were, against miraculously, in great shape.
I discovered this publisher only pretty recently, and now I feel caught up on the few lines I’m most interested in. My plan now is to stay on top of ordering them through my LCS, which is good about stocking a fair selection of them, so I don’t have to order from their site again in the future.
I want to emphasize that in all three cases, they came through with exactly what I ordered and the books arrived looking as good as they’d look as if I had bought them from my LCS. When I emailed them, the people who returned my email were professional, courteous, and apologetic; I did not feel dismissed or anything like that.
Still, I do wish that they had been a little more pro-active about communicating with me about the two orders that took so long to help me manage my expectations and to help me feel not forgotten about.
And some of the struggle may have been simply that it’s tough to order books from the UK and international shipping is always going to be treacherous. And for all I know, the whole company is being run by 3 or 4 people who are doing their best.
However many of them there are, they ARE doing the best reproductions of this kind of material that is available. These are on a different level than the many “Gwandaland” (was that the name of that line?) volumes of similar material.
February 22, 2025
Absolutely beautiful pages by Crandall!
Thanks for posting. I first learned of Reed Crandall thru Goulart’s THE GREAT COMIC BOOK ARTISTS many years ago, I’ve been looking out for his art since.
Also, love Lou Fine’s pen name here- “E.Lectron” classic!
February 22, 2025
now, if we can just get a nice reprint of all these in an affordable book…!
February 22, 2025
These pages are marvelous! I echo desires for a good quality reprint of these story.
February 23, 2025
Wow! I have loved the Ray since I got a copy of that “World’s Greatest Flying Heroes” Superman giant back in Jnr. High! The handful of Ray stories I saw dazzled me with their artwork, and I loved him in “Freedom Fighters.” Thanks for this! I’ll have to look up the stories (I’ll even put up with Bud!)