Last month, I went through two DC Comics compilations from the 1950s, stuff I haven't read in decades, and was really impressed by the artwork, esp. in the science fiction stories. I then dug out my reprints of EC Comics' Weird Science from the '50s to compare the artwork. And then I started re-watching a bunch of 1950s color sci-fi films for further comparison.

So I wound up compiling a blog entry based on all these images, devoted to "Science Fiction Art of the 1950s: Comics, Film, TV":

https://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/...omics-film-tv/

Here's a surprisingly sophisticated DC page from that era, from 1954, with art by Virgil Finlay:



And here are the compilations that got me started on this:

Ollies still has a few copies of The Mystery in Space book for $3.99.

I agree the art looks very good for the 1950s. I think those comics were aimed at older readers than the superhero fare, hence the more realistic and modern-looking art style.