Harry Sahle
Encyclopedia
Harry Frank Sahle was an American
comic book
artist who drew for such publishers as Archie Comics
, Quality Comics
and the Marvel Comics
precursor company Timely Comics
during the 1930s-1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books
.
In 1940, with writer George Kapitan, Sahle co-created the Timely character the Black Widow, comics' first costumed, superpowered female protagonist. Sahle also created the early teen-humor character Candy, writing and drawing her comic misadventures for most of the character's 1944 to 1956 run in Quality Comics' Police Comics
and in her own solo title.
magazine between 1938 and 1939, before entering the fledgling medium of comic books via the Harry "A" Chesler Studio and Funnies Inc.
, two Manhattan
-based "packagers" that provided complete, outsourced comics for the early publishers. Among his earliest comics work is a cover for the only issue of Pelican Publications' Green Giant Comics (Jan. 1940).
His earliest known interior credit is inking
the seven-page Fiery Mask
superhero story "The Jelly of Doom", over George Kapitan's pencil art, in Timely Comics
' Daring Mystery Comics
#5 (June 1940). With Kapitan writing and himself penciling and inking, Sahle co-created the Black Widow in Mystic Comics
#4 (Aug. 1940). Not to be confused with the superhero Black Widow introduced in the 1960s by Timely's descendant Marvel Comics
, this character — comics' first costumed, superpowered female protagonist — was a supernatural
antihero who gathered deserving souls for Satan
.
Other early work includes co-creating the winged superhero the Air Man in Centaur Publications
' Keen Detective Funnies #23 (Aug. 1940), and working as assistant to Carl Burgos
, creator-artist of Timely star the Human Torch. Per fellow artist and Golden Age contemporary Gil Kane
, Sahle was also occasionally a ghost artist on work credited to Burgos in issues of Marvel Mystery Comics
, Captain America Comics
, and the eponymous character's own title, Human Torch.
recalled that after the writers and artists Charles Biro
, Bob Wood, Bob Montana and several others left MLJ Comics
to move to Lev Gleason Publications
, it fell largely to Irv Novick
to steer MLJs stable of superhero characters. Shortly afterward, Sahle joined the company, working on characters including The Black Hood
, Steel Sterling, and the Shield between 1942 and 1943, and soon thereafter working on the character that was to become MLJ's breakout success: Archie Andrews
.
With the departure of Montana, Archie's signature early developer, Sahle drew "what became the new Archie character.... [H]is work was based on Montana, but with adaptation and interpretation", Kane recalled. Sahle drew some of the earliest stories featuring what would become the company's namesake character, beginning by at least Archie Comics #3 (Summer 1943).
Thanks to his work, "Sahle became the center point [of MLJ/Archie], and Novick went into the Army
", recalled Kane, who believes Sahle worked for MLJ for a year-and-a-half before joining the Army himself. Upon his return, Sahle was hired away from MLJ by "Busy" Arnold and his Quality Comics
.
teen-humor feature "Candy," starring typical small-town American girl Candace O'Connor of Hartwick, USA. Her supporting cast included her boyfriend, Ted Dawson; her rival, Cornelia Clyde; and gal-pals Tina and Trish. Debuting as a backup feature in Police Comics
#37 (Dec. 1944), "Candy" featured in the title until issue #102 (Oct. 1950), when the regular line-up of characters (including Candy, Will Eisner
's The Spirit
, etc.) were dropped, and the title became a "regular crime comic
." Candy continued to star in her own title, Candy, which ran 64 issues (Fall 1947 - July 1956). Six months after the title ceased publication, Quality Comics as a whole closed its doors.
In addition to Candy's comic book adventures, Sahle and writer Elmer Groggin produced a "Candy" newspaper
comic strip
syndicated
by the Chicago Times
Syndicate from October 2, 1944. Sometime during 1945, Sahle's strip was then taken over by Tom Dorr, who continued it for a further 25 years.
Much of Sahle's work was produced in the teen-humor genre, and during the 1940s he also drew another feature, "Ezra," for Quality's Military Comics and Modern Comics titles.
, who worked for Lloyd Jacquet
's Funnies Inc.
packager during the 1930s and 1940s, teamed with Sahle on a number of occasions, including on the character "Mike Danger", which Spillane described as "the original concept of Mike Hammer
", the archetypal hardboiled detective of mid-20th century paperback novels. After Spillane's novels were successful, some "Mike Danger" stories saw print in issues of Crime Detector in 1954, and new stories featuring the character were published by Tekno Comics four decades later.
Sahle and Spillance had earlier collaborated on the eponymous feature "Mike Lancer", starring a Mike Hammer prototype, published in Harvey Comics
' Green Hornet
Comics #10 (Dec. 1942).
reprinted Sahle's 1940s aviator feature "Bald Eagle" in Air Fighters Classics #1-2 (Nov. 1987 - Dec. 1988). Some Sahle work appears in the anthology Marvel Mystery Comics
#1 (Dec. 1999). and the hardcover
collections Marvel Masterworks
: Golden Age Sub-Mariner, Vol. 1 and Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch, Vol. 1 (both 2005).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist who drew for such publishers as Archie Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
, Quality Comics
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
and the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
precursor company Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
during the 1930s-1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
.
In 1940, with writer George Kapitan, Sahle co-created the Timely character the Black Widow, comics' first costumed, superpowered female protagonist. Sahle also created the early teen-humor character Candy, writing and drawing her comic misadventures for most of the character's 1944 to 1956 run in Quality Comics' Police Comics
Police Comics
Police Comics was a comic book anthology title published by Quality Comics from 1941 until 1953. It featured short stories in the superhero, crime and humor genres....
and in her own solo title.
Early career
Harry Sahle drew gag cartoons for Boy's LifeBoys' Life
Boys' Life is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America . Its targeted readership is young American males between the ages of 6 and 18.Boys' Life is published in two demographic editions...
magazine between 1938 and 1939, before entering the fledgling medium of comic books via the Harry "A" Chesler Studio and Funnies Inc.
Funnies Inc.
Funnies, Inc. is an American comic book packager of the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of comic books. Founded by Lloyd Jacquet, it supplied the contents of early comics, including that of Marvel Comics #1 , the first publication of what would become the multimedia corporation Marvel Comics. The Funnies, Inc...
, two Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
-based "packagers" that provided complete, outsourced comics for the early publishers. Among his earliest comics work is a cover for the only issue of Pelican Publications' Green Giant Comics (Jan. 1940).
His earliest known interior credit is inking
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
the seven-page Fiery Mask
Fiery Mask
Fiery Mask is a fictional character from the Timely/Marvel Comics universe. He was a Golden Age superhero created by Joe Simon and first appeared in Daring Mystery Comics #1.-Publication history:...
superhero story "The Jelly of Doom", over George Kapitan's pencil art, in Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
' Daring Mystery Comics
Daring Mystery Comics
Daring Mystery Comics is an American comic-book series published by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics, during the 1930-1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books...
#5 (June 1940). With Kapitan writing and himself penciling and inking, Sahle co-created the Black Widow in Mystic Comics
Mystic Comics
Mystic Comics is the name of four comic book series published by the company that would eventually become Marvel Comics. The first two series were superhero anthologies published by Marvel's 1930-1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books...
#4 (Aug. 1940). Not to be confused with the superhero Black Widow introduced in the 1960s by Timely's descendant Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, this character — comics' first costumed, superpowered female protagonist — was a supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
antihero who gathered deserving souls for Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
.
Other early work includes co-creating the winged superhero the Air Man in Centaur Publications
Centaur Publications
Centaur Publications was one of the earliest American comic book publishers. During their short existence, they created several colorful characters, including Bill Everett's Amazing Man....
' Keen Detective Funnies #23 (Aug. 1940), and working as assistant to Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating the original Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1 Carl Burgos (né Max Finkelstein, April 18, 1916, New York City, New York; died March 1984) was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating...
, creator-artist of Timely star the Human Torch. Per fellow artist and Golden Age contemporary Gil Kane
Gil Kane
Eli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
, Sahle was also occasionally a ghost artist on work credited to Burgos in issues of Marvel Mystery Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics is an American comic book series published during the 1930s-1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books...
, Captain America Comics
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
, and the eponymous character's own title, Human Torch.
MLJ Comics
Artist Gil KaneGil Kane
Eli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
recalled that after the writers and artists Charles Biro
Charles Biro
Charles Biro was an American comic book creator and cartoonist. He is today chiefly known for creating the comic book characters Airboy and Steel Sterling, and for his 16-year run on the acclaimed 1940s series Daredevil Comics for Lev Gleason Publications.-Biography:Charles Biro studied art at...
, Bob Wood, Bob Montana and several others left MLJ Comics
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
to move to Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....
, it fell largely to Irv Novick
Irv Novick
Irv Novick was an American comic book artist who worked almost continuously from 1939 until the late 1990s.-Biography:...
to steer MLJs stable of superhero characters. Shortly afterward, Sahle joined the company, working on characters including The Black Hood
The Black Hood
The Black Hood was originally a golden age character created by MLJ Comics, later known as Archie Comics. The Black Hood first appeared in Top-Notch Comics #9, October 1940 and became one of MLJ's most popular characters. He also had his own title, Black Hood Comics, a pulp magazine, and his own...
, Steel Sterling, and the Shield between 1942 and 1943, and soon thereafter working on the character that was to become MLJ's breakout success: Archie Andrews
Archie Andrews (comics)
Archie Andrews, created in 1941 by Vic Bloom and Bob Montana, is a fictional character in an American comic book series published by Archie Comics, as well as the long-running Archie Andrews radio series, a syndicated comic strip, The Archie Show, and Archie's Weird Mysteries.-Character and...
.
With the departure of Montana, Archie's signature early developer, Sahle drew "what became the new Archie character.... [H]is work was based on Montana, but with adaptation and interpretation", Kane recalled. Sahle drew some of the earliest stories featuring what would become the company's namesake character, beginning by at least Archie Comics #3 (Summer 1943).
Thanks to his work, "Sahle became the center point [of MLJ/Archie], and Novick went into the Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
", recalled Kane, who believes Sahle worked for MLJ for a year-and-a-half before joining the Army himself. Upon his return, Sahle was hired away from MLJ by "Busy" Arnold and his Quality Comics
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
.
Candy
Sahle went on to create the Quality ComicsQuality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company that operated from 1939 to 1956 and was an influential creative force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
teen-humor feature "Candy," starring typical small-town American girl Candace O'Connor of Hartwick, USA. Her supporting cast included her boyfriend, Ted Dawson; her rival, Cornelia Clyde; and gal-pals Tina and Trish. Debuting as a backup feature in Police Comics
Police Comics
Police Comics was a comic book anthology title published by Quality Comics from 1941 until 1953. It featured short stories in the superhero, crime and humor genres....
#37 (Dec. 1944), "Candy" featured in the title until issue #102 (Oct. 1950), when the regular line-up of characters (including Candy, Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
's The Spirit
The Spirit
The Spirit is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million...
, etc.) were dropped, and the title became a "regular crime comic
Crime comics
Crime comics is a genre of American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the 1940s and 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence and criminal activity. Crime comics began in 1942 with the publication of Crime Does...
." Candy continued to star in her own title, Candy, which ran 64 issues (Fall 1947 - July 1956). Six months after the title ceased publication, Quality Comics as a whole closed its doors.
In addition to Candy's comic book adventures, Sahle and writer Elmer Groggin produced a "Candy" newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
syndicated
Print syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
by the Chicago Times
Chicago Times
The Chicago Times was a newspaper in Chicago from 1854 to 1895 when it merged with the Chicago Herald.The Times was founded in 1854, by James W. Sheahan, with the backing of Stephen Douglas, and was identified as a pro-slavery newspaper. In 1861, after the paper was purchased by Wilbur F...
Syndicate from October 2, 1944. Sometime during 1945, Sahle's strip was then taken over by Tom Dorr, who continued it for a further 25 years.
Much of Sahle's work was produced in the teen-humor genre, and during the 1940s he also drew another feature, "Ezra," for Quality's Military Comics and Modern Comics titles.
Mike Hammer
Crime novelist Mickey SpillaneMickey Spillane
Frank Morrison Spillane , better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American author of crime novels, many featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have sold internationally...
, who worked for Lloyd Jacquet
Lloyd Jacquet
Lloyd Victor Jacquet was the founder of Funnies, Inc., one of the first and most prominent of a handful of comic book "packagers" established in the late 1930s that created comics on demand for publishers testing the waters of the emerging medium. Among its other achievements, Funnies, Inc...
's Funnies Inc.
Funnies Inc.
Funnies, Inc. is an American comic book packager of the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of comic books. Founded by Lloyd Jacquet, it supplied the contents of early comics, including that of Marvel Comics #1 , the first publication of what would become the multimedia corporation Marvel Comics. The Funnies, Inc...
packager during the 1930s and 1940s, teamed with Sahle on a number of occasions, including on the character "Mike Danger", which Spillane described as "the original concept of Mike Hammer
Mike Hammer
Michael "Mike" Hammer is a fictional detective created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury .-Description:...
", the archetypal hardboiled detective of mid-20th century paperback novels. After Spillane's novels were successful, some "Mike Danger" stories saw print in issues of Crime Detector in 1954, and new stories featuring the character were published by Tekno Comics four decades later.
Sahle and Spillance had earlier collaborated on the eponymous feature "Mike Lancer", starring a Mike Hammer prototype, published in Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
' Green Hornet
Green Hornet
Green Hornet may refer to:* The Green Hornet, a fictional character created by Fran Striker for the 1930s radio program and adapted into several media versions...
Comics #10 (Dec. 1942).
Reprints
Several issues of Sahle's Candy were reprinted, in the late 1950s/early 1960s by Israel Waldman's Super Comics imprint, but her adventures have otherwise remained out of print. In the late 1980s, Eclipse ComicsEclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
reprinted Sahle's 1940s aviator feature "Bald Eagle" in Air Fighters Classics #1-2 (Nov. 1987 - Dec. 1988). Some Sahle work appears in the anthology Marvel Mystery Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics is an American comic book series published during the 1930s-1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books...
#1 (Dec. 1999). and the hardcover
Hardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
collections Marvel Masterworks
Marvel Masterworks
Marvel Masterworks are a American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics. They are printed in full color and feature various titles from the Golden Age, Pre-Code , Silver Age, and Bronze Age of comics.The collection started in 1987 with volumes...
: Golden Age Sub-Mariner, Vol. 1 and Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Human Torch, Vol. 1 (both 2005).
External links
- Hagenauer, George (Comics Buyer's Guide original-art columnist), "Mickey Spillane's First Private Eye Comic - Harry Sahle Art", CBGXtra.comComics Buyer's GuideComics Buyer's Guide , established in 1971, is the longest-running English-language periodical reporting on the American comic book industry...
, August 29, 2006. Note: Item identifies "Mike Lancer" art as from Green Hornet Comics #9. However, Grand Comics Database lists no "Mike Lancer" feature in that issue, and the comic's cover-listing of features does not mention it. "Mike Lancer" does appear in issue #10.