'Master Race' (Impact #1, March-April 1955).
Bernard Krigstein was an American painter and illustrator, nowadays better known as a comic artist. A large chunk of his work can be categorized as plain juvenile entertainment, but several stories stand out for their experimental nature. Krigstein felt comics had the same possibilities for personal expression as any other art form. He worked in an unusual style which set him apart from most of his contemporaries. His sketchy pen and ink work looked more like an expressionistic painting. His toying with lay-out, panels and particularly readers' rhythm came closer to a cinematic experience than most average comics. Throughout his career, Krigstein worked for various companies in several different genres. Most of his comics were serious, but he also drew four stories for the satirical publication Mad Magazine. His best work was done for EC Comics, where he livened up various thriller, fantasy and horror tales. His magnum opus and most daring experimental comic strip is 'Master Race' (EC Comics, 1955). The one-shot story is notable for its inventive lay-out, panel rhythm and being one of the earliest comics to visualize the Holocaust. Sadly enough, Krigstein was too ahead of his time. He rarely received the chance to work in creative freedom. Krigstein was the first comic artist to establish his own labor union, which unfortunately nearly cost him his career. He eventually retired from the comic industry and devoted the rest of his life to painting. But he left a powerful body of work behind that still inspires other comic artists about what the medium can be...
'Nyoka the Jungle Girl' - 'The Hidden Fear' (Master Comics #8, November 1940).
Early years and career
Bernard Krigstein was born in 1919 in Brooklyn, New York City. His father was a Jewish immigrant of Belarussian descent. Krigstein studied art at Brooklyn College and ranked artists like Edvard Munch, Paul Cézanne, George Segal and George Grosz among his main graphic influences. Despite his formal art training, he considered himself to be largely self-taught. After leaving school, he created some illustration work for MLJ, while freelancing for some pulp publishers and devoting his time to painting.
Since fine art was not very lucrative, Krigstein became a comic artist, initially working through Bernard Baily's shop. In April 1943, he drew and inked his first comic strip, a war story in the 'Liberty Lads' series. It appeared in the 25th issue of Champ Comics, published by Harvey Comics. He created two more stories for Harvey and then drew the feature 'Buck Sanders and his Pals' for Crestwood's Prize Comics. The same year, his career was briefly interrupted to serve his country during World War II. I
In 1946, Krigstein returned to the United States where he returned to comics art through Baily's agency and later through Lloyd Jacquet's Funnies, Inc. For Fawcett Comics, he drew features like 'Golden Arrow' and 'Nyoka the Jungle Girl' (in Whiz Comics and Master Comics, respectively), in 1947-1948. Well into the 1950s, he created several comic stories in different genres (sports, mystery, romance, science fiction...) for various publishers, such as Timely, Novelty Press ('Bull's-Eye Bill'), Ziff-Davis ('Space Busters'), Hillman, Rae Herman's Orbit-Wanted, National Periodicals and St. John Publishing. His earliest stories are often signed with the pseudonym "B.B. Krig", of which the initials refer to his military nickname "ballbuster." Yet he refused to sign the majority of his art, because he considered it "hackwork of the purest distillation."
'Now I Can Die Easy...' (Hillman's Crime Detectives v2#4), 1952.
Yet, unlike most of his contemporaries, Krigstein saw great creative potential in comics. He distinguished himself through a personal, eccentric style. Compared with most other realistic comic artists in the 1940s and 1950s, he used a more stylized linear style. With just a few well-chosen lines he could suggest atmosphere and emotion. Krigstein's graphics were influenced by his first-hand experience of combat during World War II, frequent career setbacks and the death of his first daughter when she was only 6 months old. It gave his drawings a trademark grim look.
Union activities
In 1952, Krigstein did something that no other comic artist had tried before: establish his own labor union. He named it The Society of Comic Book Illustrators. Krigstein became president, Arthur Peddy vice president, Harry Harrison secretary, Larry Woromay treasurer and Ross Andru, Ernie Bache, John Celardo, Morrie Marcus and Bernard Sachs also joined. They managed to publish three news letters, but in June 1953 the union still went bankrupt. Even worse: many publishers heard about his union attempt, concluded he was a troublemaker and refused to hire him any longer...
EC Comics
Luckily enough, there was one comics company who signed Krigstein up: William M. Gaines' EC Comics. In the early 1950s, EC was still a young company, but already had a rebellious reputation. Their satirical magazine Mad ridiculed everything American society held dear, while their horror and fantasy comics frequently pushed the boundaries of what people considered to be acceptable for young audiences. Since EC challenged the establishment, they had a mutual admiration for Krigstein. He was one of the last of EC's core artists to join the company, his first contribution appearing in 'Tales from the Crypt' issue #40 of February/March 1954.
'Bringing Back Father' (Mad #17, November 1954), ridiculing George McManus newspaper comic 'Bringing Up Father'.
Mad Magazine
MAD's chief editor Harvey Kurtzman asked Krigstein to contribute four comics for his title. First in line was Kurtzman's parody 'From Eternity Back to Here!', which appeared in issue #12 (June 1954) and spoofed the film 'From Here to Eternity' (1953). Krigstein also contributed to Kurtzman's vicious but hilarious parody of George McManus' family comic 'Bringing Up Father' in the 17th issue (November 1954). The corny slapstick of the original is ridiculed without mercy, particularly the running gag in which Jiggs is beaten up by his wife for arriving home late and drunk. The Mad parody kicks off with artwork by Will Elder, mimicking McManus' happy, cartoony drawing style perfectly. However, when Jiggs' wife Maggie smashes several plates on his head, both graphics and mood suddenly change drastically. Drawn by Krigstein, the couple now find themselves into a bleak and brutally realistic world. The domestic violence of the original comic is painful and depressing.
Krigstein made two other graphic contributions for Mad afterwards, namely the story 'Out of the Frying Pan and into the Soup' by Ira Wallach, which appeared in issue #24 (July 1955) and 'Tense Tycoons and Lucky Bucks – Mad's Own Business Novel "Crash McCool" Reaffirms Spiritual Values of 'Cool Cash'', written by Bernard Shir-Cliff (issue #26, November 1955). While Krigstein's work for Mad was remarkable, comedy wasn't really his thing. He therefore left Mad afterwards.
'Murder Dream' (Tales from the Crypt #45, December 1954, January 1955).
EC horror, fantasy, SF and war comics
The 47 stories by Krigstein for EC's horror, fantasy, science fiction and war comics are far better demonstrations of his capacities. His work appeared in nearly every one of EC's "New Trend" magazines, such as Tales from the Crypt The Vault of Horror, Crime SupenStories, Shock SuspenStories, Weird Science-Fantasy and Two-Fisted Tales. Among his classic tales are 'Derelict Ship' (1953), 'Prairie Schooner' (1954), 'The Monster From The Fourth Dimension' (originally drawn by Feldstein in 1951, redrawn in 3D by Krigstein in 1954), 'Monotony' (1954), 'The Pioneer' (1954) and 'Bellyful' (1954), the last three written by William M. Gaines and Al Feldstein. 'The Flying Machine' (1954) is based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, 'Pipe-Dream' (1954) written by Johnny Craig, 'You, Murderer' (1954) by Otto Binder and 'The Bath', 'More Blessed To Give...' (1954) and 'Key Chain' (1954) by Jack Oleck. Finally, the stories 'The Catacombs' (1954), 'The Purge' (1954), 'Murder Dream' (1954), 'The Pit!' (1954) and 'In The Bag' (1954) are written by Carl Wessler.
'Key Chain' (Crime SuspenStories #25, 1954), a story of 6 pages which Krigstein managed to break down into 63 separate panels.
EC Comics proved to be the ideal environment for Krigstein, since all stories were one-shots, allowing for lots of variation. He was content with merely illustrating other people's scripts, since he was more interested in the visual execution. Drawing the same cast of characters over and over again simply wasn't his thing. Although Krigstein never wrote his own scripts, he was still interested in narration. In his opinion, panels and lay-out should be constructed in such a way that they dictate a certain reader's tempo. Speech balloons and captions were unnecessary. Since comics are a visual medium, Krigstein believed that most things could be conveyed by the drawings, rather than spell every action or thought out.
Krigstein's ambitions naturally didn't sit well with his editors, who just wanted him to illustrate their scripts, without much deviation. It frustrated him that most of his assignments were pure pulp. In the rare interview he gave at the end of his career, he explained: "My futile idea was that action in comics, as in any art, doesn't end with one person pounding another person in the jaw. There's also the action of emotion, psychology, character and idea. I yearned to have stories which dealt with more reality and people's feelings and thoughts... a kind of literary form, let's say even a Chekhovian form, where one could delve into real people and real feelings."
'The Pit' (The Vault of Horror #40, 10 December 1954.)
Master Race
As luck would have it, Feldstein eventually allowed Krigstein to illustrate one story with complete creative freedom. The story, 'Master Race' ran in the first issue of Impact (March-April 1955), a comic book series of EC devoted to thrilling stories with shock endings. The magazine was a gesture towards frequent complaints from moral guardians, teachers and parents that the company's comics were too scary and violent. Impact featured thrills without gruesome imagery, which explains why it only lasted five issues. But for Feldstein it was the ideal place to let Krigstein do something different.
'Master Race' follows a man in a subway at night. As he takes his train, he feels like somebody is shadowing him. Feldstein and Krigstein play with readers' expectations by letting them assume the character is potential victim of a nefarious criminal. It takes until page three before the truth is revealed: the protagonist is an escaped Nazi camp guard! The man who shadows him is the real victim, out for revenge.
'Master Race' appeared merely a decade after the end of World War II. At the time, most general audiences weren't fond of talking about such a gruesome page in human history. Especially not in a comic book. Therefore Krigstein broke new ground. The only comic artist before him to create a book about a Nazi camp, while actually being a POW himself, was Horst Rosenthal, who created a peculiar text comic named 'Mickey au Camp de Gurs' (1940) starring Disney's famous mouse. But this work didn't receive mainstream attention until the 2000s. Krigstein was, with certainty, also not aware of Rosenthal's book.
'Master Race" (Impact #1, March-April 1955).
'Master Race' wasn't just notable for its story, it was also remarkable in its execution. Most EC artists were only allowed to draw six-page stories. Krigstein insisted that he needed at least 12 pages to properly unfold his narrative. The editors met him halfway and gave him eight, even though this meant that the issue needed to be expanded with two extra pages. Krigstein also avoided several comic hallmarks, like onomatopoeia, movement lines or overly exaggerated emotions. All action is kept distant. Certain backgrounds use abstract imagery. Krigstein stretches several sequences out in various successive panels, creating a feeling of slow- or fast-motion. To achieve the effect of a train passing by, for instance, three identical images of a woman behind a train window are put behind one another. When the Nazi criminal loses balance and trips in front of the arriving train, Krigstein created one of the nowadays most iconic comic scenes in history. To visualize the action, he uses very narrow, vertical panels. Dialogue or motion lines are absent. All that remains is a man falling to his doom, as if time stands still for one brief moment....
In a 1963 interview with John Benson and Bhob Stewart, Krigstein explained his approach: "It's what happens between these panels that's so fascinating. Look at all that dramatic action that one never gets a chance to see. It's between these panels that the fascinating stuff takes place. And unless the artist would be permitted to delve into that, the form must remain infantile."
Krigstein's record: in the story 'They Wait Below' (Uncanny Tales #42, 1956), Krigstein used 75 panels for a four-page story.
Book illustrations
Krigstein left EC Comics after refusing to illustrate a story in Picto-Fiction's Crime Illustrated the way Al Feldstein wanted it. In hindsight, it didn't matter much, because in 1956 witch hunts by moral guardians and concerned parents led to EC being forced to cancel all their horror, mystery and thriller stories. While Mad Magazine was allowed to continue, Krigstein didn't want to draw humor comics anyway, so he shed no tears. After his departure, Krigstein created comics for Stan Lee's Atlas line, including stories for 'Bible Tales', 'Marvel Tales', 'War Action', etc. He had the ambition to adapt Leo Tolstoy's epic novel 'War and Peace' in comic book form, but no publisher was interested and thus the project remained unfinished. It also motivated him to leave the comic industry for good...
When the 1960s rolled along, Krigstein started a new career as illustrator. His most notable work during this period are the book covers of Evelyn Sibley Lampman's novels 'Rusty's Space Ship' (1957), Lloyd Alexander's 'Border Hawk: August Bondi' (1958) and Richard Condon's 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1959). He also livened up M.G. Bonner's practical guide 'How To Play Baseball' (1955), visualizing several playing techniques, moves, poses, swings and grips.
Album cover designs
Krigstein designed the album covers of various classical music recordings such as 'Songs of the North and South, 1861-1865' (1961) by Richard P. Condie and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, 'Darius Milhaud's Les Choéphores' (1962) by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, 'Szell Conducts Wagner' (1962) by George Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra, 'Schubert's String Quintet in C. Major, Opus 163' (1963) by The Budapest Quartet under direction of Benar Heifetz, 'Schubert's Trout Quintet/ Beethoven's Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major' (1963)) by Joseph Roisman e.a. and the Budapest String Quartet, 'A Christmas Festival' (1963) by the University of Redlands Choir., 'Alessandro Scarlatti's Messa Di Santa Cecilia' by the Utah Symphony Orchestra. He also illustrated the cover of the spoken word album 'Oscar Wilde Fairy Tales' (1961).
Illustration for 'Messer Benyamin', a serial published in World Over magazine in 1957.
Final years, recognition and death
In 1962, Krigstein became a teacher at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. Most of his spare time was devoted to painting. In old age, he felt embittered about his former career as a comic artist. He despised his former bosses and colleagues, even at E.C. Krigstein described Stan Lee as follows: "I was delighted to learn that Lee has attained the status of an authority in the comics field. Twenty years of unrelenting editorial effort to suppress the artistic effort, encourage miserable taste, flood the field with degraded imitations and polluted non-stories, treating artists and writers like cattle, and failure on his part to make an independent success as a cartoonist have certainly qualified him for this respected position." But Krigstein was mostly angry at the industry, not comics themselves. In a 1978 interview with John Benson he felt that "comics actually broadened his experience."
Yet as the decades passed, Krigstein's comics were rediscovered and recognized as astounding pieces of art. In 1963, he was interviewed by Bhob Stewart and John Benson, who self-published the interview as a special fanzine issue. One of the artist's earliest admirers was a still unknown Art Spiegelman. In 1967, he wrote a paper about Krigstein's 'Master Race' for his art teacher. Spiegelman often had arguments with his teacher about the modern art world and felt comics could be "art" too. He therefore used 'Master Race' to prove his point. Spiegelman's teacher was impressed and gave the student an excellent grade. A decade later, in 1975, when Spiegelman was a professional comic artist, he, John Benson and David Kasakove wrote a full-blown essay about 'Master Race', printed in the fanzine Squa Tront. This time, they went through the effort of trying to track down Krigstein in person, to get his perspective on his work and the essay.
Bernard Krigstein passed away in 1990. In 1992, he was posthumously inducted in the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame and in 2003 in the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. His wife, Natalie Krigstein, was also active in the comic industry as a writer of romance comics. On 15 November 2018, the original pages of 'Master Race' were auctioned and sold for $600,000.
Books about Bernard Krigstein
For those interested in Bernard Krigstein's early work, 'Messages in a Bottle: Comic Book Stories by B. Krigstein' (Fantagraphics, 2013) is highly recommended, just like 'Master Race and Other Stories, Illustrated by Bernard Krigstein' (Fantagraphics, 2018).
'The Bath' (Tales from the Crypt #42, 10 June 1954).
The Bernie Krigstein Illustration Archive on headmedicine.blogspot.com