In last week's post about Golden Age comic book artist Lily Renée, I wrote "Lily Renée could give noted 'good girl' comic artist Matt Baker a run for his money."
So what exactly was "good girl art"?
And who was Matt Baker?
Science fiction author Richard A. Lupoff defined good girl art as "a cover illustration depicting an attractive young woman, usually in skimpy or form-fitting clothing, and designed for erotic stimulation."
Matt Baker was an artist who was especially good at this sort of thing.
Here are some examples of his work.
And speaking of Phantom Lady, here is the Phantom Lady cover by Matt Baker that Fredric Wertham included in 1954's Seduction of the Innocent as his evidence that comic books were turning America's youth into oversexed perverts.
Which may say more about Fredric Wertham's level of kink than that of America's youth.
Matt Baker was born December 10, 1921, in Forsyth County, North Carolina which is just north of me here at the Fortress of Ineptitude. Active in the 1940s and 1950s Golden Age of comic books, Matt was one of the first known African-American artists to find success in the comic-book industry.
He quickly developed a reputation as one of the best "Good Girl" artists in the business for his attention to detail when drawing women.
Matt Baker was also the penciller for what many comic historians regard as the first "graphic novel" called "It Rhymes With Lust" which was co-written by Arnold Drake (co-creator of DC's Doom Patrol).
Matt Baker's art has influenced other artists such as Adam Hughes and Dave Stevens.
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