Howard Nostrand (May 13, 1929Nostrand, Howard. "Nostrand by Nostrand", ''Graphic Story Magazine'' #16 (Summer 1974), p. 18–August 1, 1984)"Howard Nostrand Death Records,"
Mooseroots.com. Accessed Jan. 18, 2016.
at the Lambiek Comiclopedia was an American cartoonist and illustrator best known for his 1950s

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

stories and his 1959-60 syndicated comic strip ''

Bat Masterson Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was born to ...

'', based on the

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

Biography

Early life

Howard Nostrand was born in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

. In 1932, his family moved to Hempstead, New York, where he graduated from high school in 1946. After working for his father's furniture construction and restoration business, painting gold leaf, scroll work and other embellishments, he attended the Art Career School. "It didn't teach very much of anything," Nostrand recalled in 1974, so "I left after one semester."

Comic books

In 1948, through one of his father's friends, Nostrand found work as an assistant to comic book artist

Bob Powell Bob Powell (né Stanley Robert Pawlowski; While gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, and gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, Bails and Ware note: "family name corrected by his son, Seth R. Powell July 2006." October 2, 1916

, who drew for

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by A ...

and

Fiction House Fiction House was an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister.Saunders, David"JACK BYRNE (1902-1972),"Field Guide to Wild American P ...

. Nostrand recalled working alongside his fellow assistants, background artist George Siefringer and "Martin Epp, who inked,

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

and helped George on backgrounds. I started out inking and then got into doing backgrounds... and then

penciling A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

." Nostrand worked for Powell on features that included "Red Hawk" in

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. It was founded by Vin Sullivan, an editor at Co ...

' ''

Straight Arrow The ''Straight Arrow'' radio program was a western adventure series for juveniles which was broadcast, mostly twice weekly in the United States from 1948 or 1949 through 1951.Anderson, Roland. A total of 292 episodes were aired. Although firs ...

'' and "Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders", based on the

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

series, in the same publisher's comic book of that title, but it was the horror comics that Harvey would begin publishing in the early 1950s that would feature some of Nostrand and Powell's finest comic art. For

Fawcett Comics Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel (DC Comics), Captain Marvel, the alter ego of ...

, he did work in '' Hot Rod Comics'', an adaptation of the 1951 John Huston film ''

The Red Badge of Courage ''The Red Badge of Courage'' is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Ove ...

'' and "a couple of Westerns", including the movie spin-off feature "

Lash LaRue Alfred "Lash" LaRue (June 15, 1917 – May 21, 1996) was a popular western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Early life and education Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana in 1917, he was reared in various towns th ...

". Writer and artist credits were not routinely given in comics during this time; historians cite as Nostand's first confirmed full inking work the seven-page Powell-penciled horror story "Servants of the Tomb" in Harvey's ''Witches Tales'' #6 (Nov. 1961).Howard Nostrand
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

Nostrand left Powell in March 1952 and found work with Harvey Comics editor Sid Jacobson. "I think the first job I did for Harvey was a story called 'Man Germ', written by a fellow named Nat Barnett... about a trip through the interior of a person's body. Turns out this fellow as a germ, though, and the body expires. Cute."Nostrand, p. 19 Nostrand also worked on Harvey's short-lived 3-D comics, as well as on such horror titles as ''Black Cat Mystery'', ''Chamber of Chills'', ''Tomb of Terror'' and ''Witches Tales''. Since EC comics were leading the way in the horror comics genre of the day, most publishers were advising their artists to adopt a similar style and in some cases outright art swipes from ''

Tales From the Crypt Tales from the Crypt may refer to: * ''Tales from the Crypt'' (album), by American rapper C-Bo * ''Tales from the Crypt'' (comics), published by EC Comics during the 1950s ** ''Tales from the Crypt'' (film), a 1972 Amicus film starring Ralph Ric ...

'' and other comics published under the Entertaining Comics banner. Nostrand did a flawless imitation of Jack Davis and in one case completely redrew a sequence by

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

from EC's ''

Two-Fisted Tales ''Two-Fisted Tales'' is an anthology war comic published bi-monthly by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title originated in 1950 when Harvey Kurtzman suggested to William Gaines that they publish an adventure comic. Kurtzman became the editor o ...

'' but changed the positioning and layout of every panel. Wood and other EC artists praised Nostrand's work and saw that he was talented enough not to do outright swipes, but only work influenced by other artists. With the mid-1950s slump in comic books that followed the Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency and the creation of the

Comics Code The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America as an alternative to government regulation. The CCA allowed the comic publishers to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. T ...

. Nostrand turned to commercial art. In a 1974 autobiographical magazine article, he recalled: He eventually found a staff position at the New York commercial art firm Penthouse Studios (no relation to '' Penthouse'' magazine) at Eighth Avenue and West 58th Street.

Comic strip

With writer Ed Herron, he produced the 1959-60 syndicated comic strip ''

'', based on the

, on which he was assisted by artist

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Sup ...

. In 1975, he returned to comic books with stories for

Atlas/Seaboard Comics Atlas/Seaboard is the term comic book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as Atlas Comics by the American company Seaboard Periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' Atlas Comics, a predecessor of Marvel ...

(''Targitt''), and Marvel (''

Vampire Tales ''Vampire Tales'' was an American black-and-white horror comics magazine published by Magazine Management, a corporate sibling of Marvel Comics. The series ran 11 issues and one annual publication from 1973 to 1975, and featuring vampires as both ...

''), followed by more than a dozen contributions to ''

Cracked Cracked may refer to: Television * ''Cracked'' (British TV series), a 2008 British comedy-drama television series that aired on STV * ''Cracked'' (Canadian TV series), a 2013 Canadian crime drama series that aired on CBC * "Cracked", a Season 8 ( ...

''. His last recorded comics work was the back-cover gag, "Great Moments in Technology: Marcus Bulovas Invents the Wristwatch", of ''Cracked'' #172 (October 1980). In the 1980s, Nostrand returned to the EC swipe/Jack Davisesque style he had used in Harvey horror comics of the 1950s and did several parody stories for National Lampoon magazine, featuring characters like the Old Fag Hag.

Awards

Nostrand won an award in the 1960s from the American Institute of Graphic Arts for his subway poster showing a cigar-puffing gangster.

References

External links

"Potrzebie"
(blog of comics historian and book editor Bhob Stewart), "Four Color Fear", September 26, 2010
''The Best of the Harveyville Fun Times!'' by Mark Arnold
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nostrand, Howard 1929 births 1984 deaths 20th-century American artists American comic strip cartoonists American illustrators