Sorry, I need to suspend posts for a couple of days. We've had a death in my wife's family.

Galactic Empires

It would appear that I'm continuing the theme of women with swords, but really, it's just a coincidence . . . 

 Karel Thole

I don't know what it means, but when you click on my profile here on this 'blog, and then click on my interest label of 'Galactic Empires', I'm the only person out of, seemingly, millions of bloggers with that interest. Wow, not one other person appears to be interested in Galactic Empires.

Galactic Empire. Just utter those words in front of me and I lapse into a catatonic stupor as my mind floats free of my body and drifts into the star lanes of my imagination.

Galactic empires are in fact strictly products of the human imagination.

From the introduction to 'Galactic Empires, vol 1', edited by Brian Aldiss:

Galactic empires represent the ultimate absurdity in science fiction. 

Galactic empires represent a promiscuous liaison between Science and Glamour, with Glamour generally in the ascendent.

Galactic empires represent the spectaculars of the SF field.

Stories of galactic empires are my favorite SF sub-genre.

cover art by Karel Thole

Again, Brian Aldiss:

"What the authors do in the main is tell us a story adorned with alien creatures, swordplay, fascinating gadgets, and —for preference — beautiful princesses. The story itself is generally fairly traditional, the crux being resolved by quick wits, courage, and brute strength. If this sounds like the recipe for a fairy-tale, the point about fairy-tales is that they enchant us and enlarge our perception. As Michael Shaara puts it in his story:

"The history of Earth and of all Mankind just faded and dropped away. They heard of great races and worlds beyond number, the illimitable government which was the Galactic Federation. The fiction, the legends, the dreams of a thousand years had come true in a moment, in the figure of  a square little old man who was not from Earth. There was a great deal for them to learn and accept in the time of a single afternoon, on an alien planet."

. . .

You have to love the way villains or heroes flee across the remote star galaxies in pursuit of each other. You have to love the way Elder Races, Hideous Secrets, Ancient Forces or plain sneaky old teleportators crop up at every turn. And you have to love the imperial women."

Of course the most famous stories of Galactic Empires are the Star Wars and Star Trek sagas. But artistic and literary creations are by far more interesting, as our imaginations are far more free to fill in the gaps, to insert ourselves into the fabric and texture of star strewn adventures, with the potential of thousands of millennia of years of ancient histories and the jewel encrusted treasures waiting to be found on countless planets.

This is a new category for my posts, and I would love to hear from anyone with a similar interest. In fact I hope to see other bloggers profiles add Galactic Empires to their interests.

Evident Quality

Continuing a theme of women with swords . . .

As pointed out by a viewer, the Conan book with the cover by Sanjulian was profusely illustrated with black and white drawings by Esteban Maroto. The quality of the drawings is evidenced by the inside front cover:

Foreshortening Issue

This Film Fun cover is a recent post by Jack over at http://enochbolles.blogspot.com/, "a web log dedicated to the art of Enoch Bolles". It's a terrific 'blog and I enjoy each posting. This particular post points out the lame depiction of the lady's firearm in hand. I assume the problem is a foreshortening issue. But it reminded me of a modern day illustration of the same subject matter.

Artistic draughtsman extraordinaire Jim Silke continually pays genuine homage to exotic and adventure icons of yesteryear. The work below is similar to, yet quite distinctive from, the Bolles painting. It has the same use of foreshortening the flintlock, but this one succeeds. It demonstrates what just a tiny bit of detail and positioning makes. Gosh, both these guys are so good.

Note the nod to Howard Pyle as well.

Comparable, Not Derivative

Manuel Sanjulian's illustrative work in the 70s and 80s was powerful and dramatic and helped sell a lot of books and magazines. He was comparable to Frazetta, not derivative, and had an understandably European flavor to his work.  I've enjoyed his work over the years.

What's All the Turmly Turbulantz?

It's another Kelly Sunday. The days and weeks just roll on by, don't they? How many weeks since this strip appeared in papers 45 years ago today? Yow—two thousand, three hundred and forty.

Petty

A magazine ad for a George Petty exhibition. It's an old magazine, so don't try going to that address and expect to see any Pettys.

Animated Comic Book Style

A 1994 serigraph by Melanie Taylor Kent, um, celebrating the animated comic book style of Batman, incorporating nearly every major element and villain of the series (but amazingly, no bat signal).

Steinlen

 Such a lovely lovely poster, promoting an exhibition of work by Theophile Alexandre Steinlen.

Fabulous

The fabulous Black Canary by the fabulous Alex Toth. I miss seeing new work by Toth.

When the World Was a Garden

I think Roy Krenkel was a man who felt out of time and place (as many of us do) and used his art to transport himself. That he ended up transporting us with his work was a bonus, but much of his work was created as a personal vision, imagining worlds far more dangerous and far more interesting than ours. Selling his work was a nuisance that came with the territory.

Below is a print of Krenkel's that I think was published by the legendary Middle Earth Publishers back when they published Frazetta. Roy imagines when the world was a garden. I want to live in the worlds he created.

Grafin Mariza

More vintage sheet music.

Rose of Stamboul

Music sheets are wonderful sources of period graphics. This art by Rebel Stanton, an artist whose work is not easy to find.

Prophetess

The Prophetess Libuse by Karel Vítězslav Mašek, painted in 1893.

Fly to Rio

I'm such a sucker for exotic travel posters.

Artist: von Arenburg

Who Can Save You Now?

Ah, if only the movie was as good as the poster. A Richard Amsel beauty.

30's Chicago

Whatever one might think of Disney's 1990 Dick Tracy movie, there is no doubt of the quality of the production art. Very evocative of 30's Chicago.

Old Days

Another great print from my trove of prints and posters from the old days of Chicago. Another one of my favorites. This has a label on the back stating John Richard Flanagan as the artist/illustrator.

Aphrodite

Another Herbert Draper painting for your scrapbook, Pearls of Aphrodite. If you look down in the shadows of the foreground you'll see a figure, whose drawing study is also included below.

Lovely is Lovely

From a photography magazine of the 50s, a lovely pin-up of Anita Ekberg by photographer Jack Strager evidently won the Pygmalion Award. Lovely is lovely, no matter the decade or century.