From Ghostly Haunts #38 (May 1974), here’s “The Weirdest Character I’ve Ever Known!” written by Joe Gill and illustrated in fine style by Tom Sutton (1937 – 2002); the striking cover artwork is by Sutton, too:
[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]
And, from Ghostly Tales #152 (December 1981), here’s “There’s Life in the Old Girl Yet!” written by Joe Gill and illustrated by Tom Sutton:
[AGAIN, CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]
When comics aficionados are asked to name their favourite artists, Tom Sutton’s name almost never comes up. But it’s not because Sutton wasn’t capable of producing elegant, inspired work; it’s because, for whatever reasons, personal, temperamental, financial, etc., Sutton did way too much work in comics that he actively disliked doing and what’s more, let it show on the page — unlike, say, Alex Toth, who tended to give his all to every script, good, bad, or indifferent, that he was hired to illuminate.
I was tempted in the above post to call Sutton’s cover “Kaluta-esque,” but then I couldn’t remember whether or not Kaluta was producing the type of covers I’m thinking of as early as 1974. Maybe Kaluta’s covers were Sutton-esque! Perhaps I should look it up…
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