Thursday, June 2, 2011

Jimmy JAMS! (Who in the World is Jimmy Thompson?)





Firing out of a cannon like some unholy amalgam of Plastic Man creator Jack Cole, The Spirit creator Will Eisner, and Rocketeer's Dave Stevens, with a generous sprinkle of Basil Wolverton, Jimmy Thompson attacked his Sub-Mariner and Human Torch assignments at Timely Comics (the pre-Marvel incarnation) in the 1940s.

I never heard of this guy until I read this blog post, which has generous heapings of Thompson's art, but I'm already hooked and waiting for the bio book if someone out there is writing it. I'd love to learn and see more work by this amazing stylist.

The blog implies that Jimmy Thompson never caught any heat because he did not create any character of note. Too bad, he's obviously very talented and sophisticated for the time. I dig the quasi-cartoony spin on his work....and this super-cartoony, mega-exaggerated take on Bill Everett's second greatest creation (or first, depending on how you feel about Daredevil, Man Without Fear) may out-Everett Everett!


2 comments:

Javier Hernandez said...

Wow! This is nuts!! Ol' Jimmy was channeling some Fletcher Hanks and pre-Charles Burns Charles Burns, too!! Very wonky, very expressive and balls to the walls zaniness. Good stuff, Mikey!

Greenblatt the Great! said...

Javy, Jose Cabrera and I were talking about Jimmy Thompson tonight. We're instant fans!

You're right, there's some Hanks and Burns and maybe a touch of Ditko in there, too!