Al Williamson: Hidden Lands

by Al Williamson (Illustrator), Mark Schultz, Tom Yeates

Al Williamson stands in rarified air, among the titans of the development of comics as an art form. Drawing from the tradition of the heyday of book, advertising, and comic-strip illustration, Williamson brought a command of craft and dynamics rarely seen, before or since, to a field that had largely valued speed over skill. As part of an amazing stable of young artists at EC in the 1950s, Williamson helped change the industry forever although much of his work of the era has remained hidden. This work includes a diverse array of fantasy, science fiction, westerns, war stories, and more that showcases the astonishing range of this master of the form.

Al Willaimson: Hidden Lands at last uncovers these stories from his days at Atlas, EC, Charlton, Harvey, Dell, and more — including collaborations with Roy Krenkel, Wally Wood, Frank Frazetta, and other top creators of the era — most of which have never been reprinted as well as a wide array of material that has never before been published, including fascinating sketches and works from his career's infancy and photos from the artist's personal scrapbooks. Covered in fascinating depth by writers Mark Schultz, Thomas Yeates, and Steve Ringgenberg and gathered from extensive, lively interviews with Williamson, Al Williamson: Hidden Lands is an essential volume for any fan of this giant of graphic fiction as well as for those interested in comics history of the classic era of pen-and-ink illustration.

Genres: Comics, Art, Biography, Collections

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2004

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Al Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy.

Reviews

[Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reprinting many scarce, hard to find stories of the artist's work during his post-EC-era days with Atlas/Timely in the 1950's and 1960's from then recently discovered production stats, this book firmly lodges itself in the list of valuable assets for Al Williamson completionists out there. It may not report as much about the artist's personal life as books published on him previously, namely The Art of Al Williamson (which Hidden Lands openly admits), but Hidden Lands, along with the aforementioned The Art of Al Williamson, Al Williamson Adventures, and 50 Girls 50 and Other Stories create a very nice start on collecting many of Williamson's harder to find 3-to-6 page short stories published through a variety of publishers from before his main stream (and often reprinted) Star Wars stories. Here is a complete list of the stories that are reprinted in Hidden Lands:

Adventure into Unknown #27 (ACG, 1951) “Lost Lives of Laura Hastings” w/ Krenkel

Valor #2 (EC, 1955) “The Champion”

Incredible Science Fiction #32 (EC, 1955) “Food for Thought” w/ Krenkel

Valor #3 (EC, 1955) “The Cloak of Command”

Wester Oulaws #11 (Timely?, 1955) “The Tin Star”

Astonishing #57 (Timely?, 1957) “The Unknown Ones” w/ Krenkel

Kid Colt Outlaw #57 (Timely, 1956) “Outnumbered!”

Gunsmoke Western #33 (1956) “The Silver Star”

Western Kid #9 (1956) “A Stranger in Tombstone!”

Marvel Tales #144 (1956) “The City That Time Forgot” Krenkel w/ Williamson

Mystery Tales #46 (1956) “The Fake” w/ Krenkel

World of Suspense #3 (1956) “The Green Man” w/ Krenkel

Kid Colt Outlaw #58 (1956) “Gambling House!” w/ Gray Marrow

Two Gun Western #11 (1957) “The Death of Dallas Dawson”

Wyatt Earp #7 (1956) “The Man Who Lost The Fight”

Wild Western #55 (1957) “The Shirriff Strikes Back” w/ Ralph Mayo

Battle #55 (1957) “Helpless!”

Six-Gun Western #2 (1957) “Ghost Town” pencils: Ralph Mayo, inks: Williamson

Jann of the Jungle #16 (1957) “Fangs of the Black Orchid” w/ Mayo

“Beast At Bay”, ”A Savage in the Streets” “Totem’s Curse”(previously unpublished Jann stories)

My Own Romance #71 (1959) “And Then I Found You!”

Two Gun Kid #51 (1959) “The Vengeance of Spade Corbell”

Strange Worlds #4 (1959) “I Was The Changing Man” w/ Krenkel

Tales of Suspense #1 (1959) “The Strangers From Space!” w/ Krenkel

Cheyenne Kid #10 (Charlton, 1957) “The Battle of Little Bighorn” w/ Torres

Eerie Tales #1 (Hastings House, 1959) “Lower Than Hell”

Forbidden Worlds #69 (ACG, 1959) “The Vortex” w/ Krenkel

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, a little history about me and Al. When I first got into comics in the early 90s I was reading the Spider-Man and X-Men titles (didn't everybody in the beginning?). I'd see or hear people talking about their favorite artist, and although there were some good artists on the titles that I read (JR, Jr and Andy Kubert on the X; Bagley, Sal Buscema whose work I adore, Tom Lyle and Steven Butler on Spidey), nobody's art connected with me in a way that made me consider him my "favorite" artist. Then one day, I was at the shop and I saw Classic Star Wars #14. There! There he was, THAT was my favorite artist. It just leapt out at me and I HAD to buy that book. I didn't know anything about it, that it was a reprint from a newspaper strip. I just knew that it was amazing work.

This book has several text chapters that basically serve as a brief, not-so-great biography. It focuses mostly on young Al's mom encouraging him to be an artist, and on Al's later friendships with the other artists of the 50's, Roy Krenkel, Angelo Torres, and others. I love that Al was not one of those guys looking for a break into commercial art or anything like that. He was a b-movie fan who wanted to make comic books and comic strips from the time he was a little kid in Columbia.
The stories that are re-printed in Hidden Lands, many of them written by a young Stan Lee, range from acceptable to awful, but let's face it, I didn't buy this book for the stories. I bought it for Al.

And my opinion of his work has not changed since that first time I saw the cover of Classic Star Wars #14. Al Williamson is an illustrator in a class of his own, beautiful figures and settings, impeccable storytelling, and mind-blowing dynamism on the page. Some of his collaborations with friends, Torres, Krenkel, John Severin, are just so beautiful that I could stare at a single panel for hours. They all knew each other strengths so well, and built pages that brought out the best in each other with such apparent ease.

[David Chaston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice bio of the artist Al Williamson with b&w reprints of his art and copies of stories from various comics from the 1950's. A great tool for studying his early illustration style and works. A must have for the Williamson fan. Be aware that it is not for all audiences as there is some nudity.