Graham Ingels
Encyclopedia
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
during the 1950s, notably on The Haunt of Fear
The Haunt of Fear
The Haunt of Fear was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in 1950. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. The Haunt of Fear was sold at newsstands beginning with its May/June 1950 issue...
and Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Crypt (comic)
Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror are three bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s...
, horror titles written and edited by Al Feldstein
Al Feldstein
Albert B. Feldstein is an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. Since retiring from Mad, Feldstein has concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife...
, and The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror
The Vault of Horror was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Haunt of Fear, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies...
, written and edited by Feldstein and Johnny Craig. Ingels' flair for horror led EC to promote him as Ghastly Graham Ingels, and he began signing his work Ghastly in 1952.
Pulp illustrator
Ingels began working at the age of 14 after the death of his father, and entered the art field when he was 16. Graham and Gertrude Ingels married when he was just beginning as a freelancer at age 20. He entered the Navy in 1943, and began working that same year for Fiction HouseFiction House
Fiction House is an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. Its comics division was best known for its pinup-style good girl art, as epitomized by the company's most popular character, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.-History:-Jumbo and Jack...
Publications, both in their pulp magazines and their comic book division. Black and white illustrations signed G. Ingels appeared in Planet Stories
Planet Stories
Planet Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on other planets, and was initially focused on a young readership. Malcolm Reiss was editor or editor-in-chief for all of its 71...
, Jungle Stories, North-West Romances and Wings. He contributed one painted cover to a 1944 issue of Planet Stories as well. Illustrating color stories featuring Hunt Bowman, The Lost World or Sea Devils.
The Ingels had two children, Deanna (born 1937) and Robby (born 1946), who was named after a character created by child impersonator Lenore Ledoux for the Baby Snooks
The Baby Snooks Show
The Baby Snooks Show was an American radio program starring comedienne and Ziegfeld Follies alumna Fanny Brice as a mischievous young girl who was 40 years younger than the actress who played her when she first went on the air. The series began on CBS September 17, 1944, airing on Sunday evenings...
radio program. Artist Howard Nostrand
Howard Nostrand
Howard Nostrand was an American cartoonist and illustrator best known for his 1950s comic book stories and his 1959-60 syndicated comic strip Bat Masterson, based on the television series.-Early life:...
, a friend of Ingels, recalled:
- Robby was short for Robespierre. The reason why they called him that was left over from the old Fanny BriceFanny BriceFanny Brice was a popular and influential American illustrated song "model," comedienne, singer, theatre and film actress, who made many stage, radio and film appearances and is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series, The Baby Snooks Show...
show, Baby Snooks. Baby Snooks had a little kid brother named Robespierre. They called him that when he was a little kid, and the name stuck.
Ingels was a regular in Planet Comics and Rangers Comics in the mid and late 1940s, and worked for Magazine Enterprises
Magazine Enterprises
Magazine Enterprises was an American comic book company lasting from 1943 to 1958, which published primarily Western, humor, crime, adventure, and children's comics, with virtually no superheroes...
and other publishers of comic books and pulp magazines. He became an art director at Better Publications (Ned Pine's Comics Group later known as Nedor), where he gave early comic book assignments to George Evans
George Evans
George Evans may refer to:*George Evans *George Evans, 1st Baron Carbery , Irish politician*George Evans, 4th Baron Carbery , British politician*George Evans , Australian explorer...
, with whom he would form a long friendship, and a young Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...
, who credited Ingels as the first one in the business to recognize his talent. During this period, Ingels drew a few memorable covers and stories for the company's Startling Comics and Wonder Comics, but these and other BP comics show faces and other parts of stories by less talented artists have been redrawn by Ingels.
Ingels drew crime comics for Magazine Enterprises (Manhunt, Killers) and Westerns for a variety of companies, including ME (Guns), Youthful Magazines (Gunsmoke), Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals, Inc. was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher...
(Western Fighters) and D.S. Publishing Co. (Outlaws). D.S. also published some crime stories drawn by Ingels in their titles Underworld, Gangsters Can't Win and Exposed. There were also short stories and one painted cover by Ingels in Dell Comics
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
' Heroic Comics around 1947.
EC Comics
In 1948, Ingels was hired by Al FeldsteinAl Feldstein
Albert B. Feldstein is an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. Since retiring from Mad, Feldstein has concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife...
, the editor of EC Comics, to provide artwork for their titles which included Gunfighter, Saddle Justice, Saddle Romances, War Against Crime, Modern Love and A Moon, A Girl... Romance. The company's Western and romance comics would later be canceled or converted to horror and science-fiction titles. In Grant Geissman
Grant Geissman
Grant Geissman is a crossover jazz, contemporary jazz and new age guitarist and an Emmy-nominated composer for network TV series and TV movies. An in-demand studio musician, he has recorded extensively for several labels since 1976, and he can be heard playing guitar on the theme for Monk and...
's book Foul Play, Feldstein explained that Ingels' early work for EC was disappointing, but publisher Bill Gaines was fiercely loyal to everybody, which is why Ingels remained at the company. When EC introduced Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear, it soon became apparent to Gaines that Ingels was an ideal choice as an illustrator of horror.
Ingels' unique and expressive style was well-suited for the atmospheric depiction of Gothic horrors amid crumbling Victorian mansions in hellish landscapes populated by twisted characters, grotesque creatures and living corpses with rotting flesh. A trademark image was a character with a thread of saliva visible in a horrified open mouth.
Shock SuspenStories
Shock SuspenStories was part of the EC Comics line in the early 1950s. The bi-monthly comic, published by Bill Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein, began with issue 1 in February/March 1952. Over a four-year span, it ran for 18 issues, ending with the December/January 1955 issue.- Artists and writers...
and Crime SuspenStories
Crime SuspenStories
Crime SuspenStories was a bi-monthly anthology crime comic published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title first arrived on newsstands with its October/November 1950 issue and ceased publication with its February/March 1955 issue, producing a total of 27 issues...
.
Because of the many "Witch's Cauldron" stories he drew, he was strongly identified with the character of the Old Witch, an association that continues until the present day. Ingels' artwork on the eight page lead stories, and his splash pages particularly on issues #14 and 17, set a new standard for horror illustration that have rarely if ever been equaled since. "Poetic Justice" in the twelfth issue, was adapted for the 1972 Tales From the Crypt film from Amicus studios in England, which starred Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
as the kindly old junk collector. The Ingels drawn "Wish You Were Here" from Haunt #22 was also adapted. "Horror We? How's Bayou?" in issue #17 is considered by many E.C.'s best drawn horror story ever, and perhaps the best by anyone in any era. The homicidal maniac's creepy visage was taken from an old movie still of the 1920 silent film of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920 film)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1920 horror silent film, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and released through Paramount/Artcraft. The film is based upon Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and starring actor John Barrymore.The film was directed by John S....
, starring John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
. The story artwork won an award as best E.C. horror art at the 1972 E.C. Fan-Addict Convention.
After EC cancelled its horror and crime comics, Ingels contributed art to the New Direction titles Piracy
Piracy (comic)
Piracy is an EC Comics title published in the early 1950s. The bi-monthly comic book, published by Bill Gaines and edited by Al Feldstein, began with an issue cover-dated October-November, 1954. It ran for seven issues, ending with the October-November, 1955 issue.Front covers were by Wally Wood,...
, M.D., Impact and Valor. He also later contributed to EC's short lived Picto-Fiction line.
After EC ceased publication in the mid-1950s, Ingels contributed to Classics Illustrated
Classics Illustrated
Classics Illustrated is a comic book series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Iliad. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1971, producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies...
but found little work in comics due to his notable connection with EC's horror comics, as discussed by Nostrand in Foul Play: "He was kind of a sad case, because when the horror stuff went out, Graham went out with it. His forte was strictly doing horror comics and there weren't any more horror comics being done".
Ingels took a teaching position with the Famous Artists
Famous Artists School
Famous Artists School has offered correspondence courses in art since it was founded in 1948 in Westport, Connecticut, U.S.A. The idea was conceived by Albert Dorne as a result of a conversation with Norman Rockwell...
correspondence school located in Westport, Connecticut. He later left the Northeast and became an art instructor in Florida, refusing to acknowledge his work in horror comics until a few years before he died.
Tributes
In 2004, the webcomic Is This Tomorrow?Is This Tomorrow?
Is This Tomorrow? is a comic strip, created by Kelly Shane and Woody Compton, begun as a college newspaper feature in 1991 and revived as a webcomic in 2003. The comic is experimental in form and though it includes recurring characters, the subject matter and style often varies from strip to strip...
featured Ingels in its series of comic book trading cards.