Daydream

Ah, if some editor would only have had the insight to have Jaime Hernandez produce some of the original Supergirl stories in the mode of Love and Rockets. Those stories would have been classics. At least we have this drawing to daydream over.

Hie Away

Master of the Montage Vignette

Sanjulian also crafted powerful illustrations for historical romance novels, having mastered the montage vignette composition.

Above, for an Egyptian Mystery Romance

"Manchu"

"Troy"

More Sanjulian coming up, down the road.

All Their Glory

Remember those cool Sanjulian 70s-ish covers for the Warren mags and Heavy Metal?

The general magazines on the newstands at that time were already at boring mundane levels, but I remember all those fantasy magazines standing out in all their glory at the newsracks in drugstores and even Woolworth's and the newstands where businessmen bought their Wall St Journal.

Cool Kubert Cover

Here's a comic book I've been looking for, for years. I'm surmising that it never printed—at least not under this cover by Joe Kubert. Y'know Kubert did a few Black Cat stories back in the early days.

The ad below ran in November of 1993, for Black Cat #14. The following year there was a Black Cat: The War Years #1 that came out using the same mast head material, but a totally different cover rendering by Ken Selig. The Grand Comics Database doesn't list the comic in the ad, and comic store managers look at me blankly when I ask about it. Why in the world would somebody deep-six Kubert?!

Well, damn. I woulda really liked to have had this cool Kubert cover in color. Say that 5 times real quick—cool Kubert cover in color.

The Marilyn Mystery

I've been trying to get some free time today to post, and all day every moment was spoken for in some way or another. It's frightening sometimes how circumstances control our actions, guiding us through the precious moments of our lives. Some of my distractions are wonderful—my wife and daughter. For them I would give my life without hesitation. But to give away time to petty concerns of relentless daily gremlins, well, I'm sure you know what I mean.

But blogging is not useless time. It gives me the opportunity to think and focus, to really examine closely the images that help give meaning to my existence. And enough of you check in here (amongst so many blogs better than this one) for me to know that we have a common love of images, and make it a worthwhile use of precious time, even though it is (literally) the end of the day.

Well, I don't know where that came from, other than I'm glad to be back at the keyboard.

In January of 1980, Playboy magazine, in its closing pages ran a public query about some interesting photos of the earthly goddess Marilyn Monroe—which you can read about here:

These photos are truly lovely as evidenced by a better view of the primary shot:

There was a response to that query. Artist Jon Whitcomb (illustrator extraordinaire of the women's magazines of the 50s and 60s) explained the pictures' origin:

"Dear Playboy, Mystery Division: For The American Weekly issue of April 6, 1958, Hearst needed an Easter hat feature and asked me to paint six ladies for it. As usual, overnight. A photographer named Carl Perutz or some such Nom de Nikon handled Marilyn. He was never heard from again. If he was demolished on East 18th Street amidst actors, I'm sorry to hear it."

This illustration above was obviously painted from the photo above it, but Whitcomb also painted Monroe directly on three other occasions:

The cover above, and the piece below were painted during the shooting of Wilder's Some Like It Hot.

The piece below dates from the shooting of The Misfits and appeared in the December 1969 Cosmopolitan.

Comment Trouble

Hi. I'm being plagued with comment troubles.

First, I'm getting way too many nonsensical and pornographic spam comments which has forced me to moderate incoming comments. But when I hit the accept button for legit and welcome comments, sometimes they disappear into cyberspace, sometimes for days or even weeks at a time, and then suddenly appear. Others have disappeared completely. Some folks have emailed me to say they can't even leave comments at all, something disconnecting them.

If you've noticed that happening to you, first my apologies. I REALLY want your comments. Secondly, please email me with what you've experienced while commenting. I want to fix it, but need some backup data and anecdotal material.

Thank you all for tuning in, and please keep commenting.

The Ghost-Beast

Wally Wood went through several 'classic' periods of his work. This story, from Marvel's Tower of Shadows #6 - July 1970, was one of his post neo-middle bronze* periods. Welcome to another story from Wally's World.

* I'm just making that up. I have no idea what I'm talking about. Actually, note that this is just about the exact time Wood did his classic try-out page for Foster's Prince Valiant.

Blaze of Imagination

When the pulps died out, in the 50s, after decades of service to the imagination, sci-fi digests carried on the tradition. And Kelly Freas was the continuity factor that the transition needed. There were others of course, but Freas not only kept the visual spark of imagination alive, he fanned it to a great blaze.

Lorelei of the Red Mist

Frank Kelly Freas' art style was consistently seductive, making the wildest of science fiction seem possible. Lorelei of the Red Mist is a beautiful example of his earlier work. This is what Freas himself had to say about these illustrations:

"The Lorelei apparently shook me up as much as she did the hero. She generated a whole new cover format (I did the logo-type too, and I'm still pleased with it). But she also generated a lovely set of interiors in a style brand new, and still unique. I was never quite able to repeat it. A hex, of course."

Tops in Science Fiction — Fall 1953

As a Child

This is from Jeffrey Jones beautiful published portfolio, As a Child. I'm not doing it justice here, as I shot the picture behind glass on my library wall, but still I wanted to post it.

Jones has been an inspiration to many artists with her unique styling. Best wishes go out to her.

detail

Terrific

Artists need to always promote themselves, even after making a name for themselves. I've always enjoyed HB Lewis' style, but this promo ad from some years ago takes the cake—what a terrific design, with terrific art! Visit his terrific work by clicking here.

Of course you know that all images on my site are for us to learn from and enjoy, but are protected by various copyrights, and the same goes for Mr. Lewis' work. Respect that and all is well with the world.

Advice from a Caterpillar

Continuing with Alice's Adventures, we are now in chapter 5, wherein the child is berated by a large blue caterpillar, forced to recite a poem about Father William, and told to eat some unknown mushroom, wherein her body undergoes a strange transformation.

Farrr out.

Maria Kirk _ 1907

John Tenniel — 1865

Disney Studio — 1950

Gertrude Kay — 1923

Thomas Buchanan — 1993

a preliminary sketch for book project

Thomas Buchanan — 1993

When the book project was cancelled, I was commissioned to create a mural bringing many of the characters together in one setting, and what better place than at the tea party table. Above, part of the underpainting. Below a detail from the mural.

Thomas Buchanan — 1993

Charles Folkard — 1929

Harry Rountree — 1908

Disney Studio — 1950

Margaret Tarrant — 1916

Biscuits

Alphonse Mucha showed other artists the way, and his style was immediately emulated—such as Biscuits de Beukelaer, a poster by Privat Livemont. Printed in Brussels in 1900, Livemont utilized a stylized vegetation background that was typical of his work.

Artists and Models 1923

People have always been fascinated watching the act of drawing, the creation of something from nothing (a sort of definition of 'magic'). Here, in the Artists and Models Revue of 1923, part of the vaudeville circuit, chorus girls have been living canvases for lightning sketch artists who have drawn rapid portraits of the popular comic strip characters of the day. The girls are wearing sandwich boards and not much else. It might have been fun to be a vaudevillian sketch artist at that.

Concept Cover

From the stream-line era of 1936, an editorial concept magazine cover that seems relevant to any era of modern capitalism.

Even business magazines and trade journals were so much more visually appealing in them thar days.

Magazine: More Business — May 1936 — Artist: Bradbury Thompson

Little Napoleon of the Show World

Billy Rose, short in stature but a giant in his field, was one of the great American showmen. He entered show biz through Tin Pan Alley as a collaborative lyricist, with some famous songs to his credit: Me and My Shadow, It's Only a Paper Moon, and one 1923 hit that was lucrative enough to finance his first nightclub—Barney Google (with the Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes).

He was a firm believer in The-Big-Night-Out. Rose's nightclubs and revues were the toast of New York for decades.

He really hit the legit with the 1939 World's Fair—Billy Rose's Aquacade—"a brilliant girl show of spectacular size and content". Starring Olympian Eleanor Holm (who Rose married after divorcing comedienne Fanny Brice), the show also headlined future MGM soggy star Esther Williams and Tarzan himself, Johnny Weissmuller.

When Rose died in 1966, the 'little Napoleon of the show world' had an estimated fortune of $42 million (funding a foundation in his name, snubbing his two sisters).

I've got some more Billy Rose stuff around here somewhere, but darned if I can find it. At least here's a bit of it.

Below, an ad from the Sunday funnies, July 21, 1940.