Remembering Artist Earl Norem

Remembering artist Earl Norem on his birthday (April 17, 1924 - June 19, 2015) with a couple of his high kicking painted covers for the Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu (# 9, February 1975 and #33, February, 1977) featuring Shang-Chi.  

Remembering Artist Earl Norem

Remembering artist Earl Norem on his birthday (April 17, 1924 - June 19, 2015) with two of his painted covers for the Emergency magazine for Charlton, featuring the adventures of paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto of Fire Station 51 in the Los Angeles area, under the guide of the medical staff of Rampart hospital including Dr. Kelly Brackett, nurse Dixie McCall and Dr. Joe Early.

The issues are Emergency #3 and #4 (November, 1976 and January, 1977).

Remembering Artist Earl Norem

World War II veteran Earl Norem (April 17, 1923 - June 19, 2015) was an artist known for stunning painted work, and Marvel and Charlton took advantage of that, featuring his artwork on their magazine versions of comics in the 1970s.

Below are some examples of this fine work, and a representative sample of a lifetime of work!

Six Million Dollar Man 4 and 6, 1977

Savage Sword Of Conan 14 and 47, 1970s

Tales Of The Zombie 5 and 10, 1970s

Rampaging Hulk 3 and 9, 1970s

Marvel Preview 9 and 12, 1970s

Planet Of The Apes 21 and 28, 1970s

Silver Surfer 1 (1978) and Masters Of The Universe: Sunbird Legacy (1983)

Charlton's Emergency Comics

Emergency was a TV series that focused on the new at the time profession of emergency medical response teams created by Jack Webb, Robert A. Cinader and Harold Jack Bloom as a spin off of Webb's Adam-12 police series.  The focus of the show was on Fire Station 51 personnel John Gage (played by Randolph Mantooth) and Roy DeSoto (played by Kevin Tighe), as they provided emergency on-location medical support for the emergency room of Rampart General Hospital, who's staff included Dr. Kelly Brackett (played by Robert Fuller), nurse Dixie McCall (played by Julie London) and neurosurgeon Dr. Joe Early (played by Bobby Troup).   

The show lasted for six seasons, starting on January 15, 1972 and going until March 26, 1977, with six made for TV movies in 1978 and 1979 focusing on the lives of those who saves lives in the Los Angeles area.

The Emergency Comic Book

Charlton made 4 issues of a color comic book based on the Emergency TV show, running from June, 1976 to December, 1976 following the adventures of John and Roy as they did their business of helping those in danger!

The stories were written by Joe Gill, and cover art was by Joe Staton for issue #1 and #2, and by Jack Sparling for issue #3 and #4, with interior art in issue #1 by a young John Byrne, and the later 3 issues by Demetrio Sanchez Gomez.


 

The Emergency Magazine

Charlton also put out 4 magazine editions of Emergency, being in black and white except for the cover, from July, 1976 to January, 1977.

These magazines featured multiple stories per issue, with Emergency #1 having stories by Joe Gill, Nicola Cuti and Mike Pellowski and art by Continuity Associates (a group organized by cover artist, Neal Adams).  Emergency #2 also had stories by Nicola Cuti, Mike Pellowski and Joe Gill, and art by Continuity Associates and cover by Neal Adams.

Emergency #3 had stories by Nicola Cuti, Mike Pellowski and Joe Gill, interior art by Continuity Associates, and a painted cover by Earl Norem.  Earl also painted the cover for Emergency #4, and interior stories were written by Nicola Cuti, Joe Gill and Mike Pellowski, and art by Win Mortimer for the first two, and by Jack Sparling for the third.



These books, along with the TV show, stand as a tribute to those whose job it is to run towards the danger....the real heroes!