Deadlines

This painting captures my mood and state of mind, as it must for all people who are under the overwhelming pressure of deadlines.

Hang in there everyone, it's the life we chose.

Gustave Courbet — The Desperate Man (self-portrait) — 1845

"Honor does not lie in a title or a ribbon;

it lies in actions and the motives for actions . . ."— Courbet

Rarified Atmosphere

Whenever I'm feeling tired and overwhelmed, all I have to do is spend a few minutes with images that catapult me into the rarified atmosphere of fantasy, and I am energized like the ion thrusters of a space cruiser exiting an asteroid field.

The isolated panel below is one of my all time favorites from the golden age of 'science fiction', or more aptly 'space opera' or just plain 'fantasy adventure'. Totally unsophisticated, it is supremely iconic of the genre, from Flash Gordon to Buck Rogers and beyond. Drawn by a young Murphy Anderson, Star Pirate must have influenced Ron Goulart and Gil Kane with their StarHawks, and I'd even venture that the young Frank Frazetta probably admired this work as well.

Imagine, if you will, the pulpy smell of old comics, and let your mind unfocus from your worries as it wanders the astro lanes from distant worlds — but always keep your blaster close at hand.

Murphy Anderson — Planet Comics #50 _ 1947

The Value of Time

In my line of work, with constant deadlines, I have daily races with the old man and it's all I can do to finish each race in a tie. And then it's 'time' to race again.

I'm gettin' tuckered out. I don't think a new watch is gonna help.

Harold DeLay — The Value of Time — 1922

Resurfaced

Wonderful golden age images have resurfaced here and there for modern usage. Here, a favorite image, Arthur Rackham's 1909 Jewels From the Deep, is nicely used as a modern book cover for a book that's about, well, #@*% yeah, mermaids.

Arthur Rackham — Jewels from the Deep

Magic Scene

This is an odd little number that appears to date back to 18th century Italy by an undetermined artist, seeming to be a documentary survey of the black arts. The magician weaving spells is surrounded by devils, a flying goat, bones, bats, monkeys, an owl and a hanged man. Back in the back, monsters are being conjured from the cave.

I've tried posting this image bigger than usual for you to see detail, but who knows what size limits Blogger puts on images. Still, you should be able to see enough . . . that is, if you want to . . . Bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa . . .

Eighteenth-Century Italian — Magic Scene

Hot Stuff in That Cold War

When the movie Salomé, starring Rita Hayworth and Stuart Granger, came out in 1953, it must have seemed like hot stuff in that cold war, McCarthy-istic, Eisenhower-bland era. Especially the Technicolor Dance of the Seven Veils that Rita Hayworth performs, getting Charles Laughton's attention and causing The Baptist to lose his head.

Columbia Pictures — Salome — 1953

Female Life and Being

This is the charming photo used on the cover of the 1983 Perigee book, The Family of Woman, a "world-wide photographic perception of female life and being".

If I Was a Kid in 1921

Boy, if I was a kid in 1921, this cover would make my heart go pitty-pat. What am I saying — it makes my heart go pitty-pat now!

Maud & Miska Petersham — St. Nicholas magazine — October 1921

The Petershams were a wife/husband art team and illustrated a LOT of books and periodicals from the 1920s into the 1950s.

The Comics Were Fun!

The last two posts I admitted to buying comics just for their covers. In just those two, that was $2.25 each. And I did that a number of times, even when the price went higher. And I even got caught up in the alternate cover scheme, just for the covers. I finally stopped that practice a number of years ago, but it was expensive while it lasted.

Here's where the air gets wavy and I start the voiceover for the nostalgic scene:

When I was a boy, I bought comic books because the whole darn book was entertaining, including house ads and letter columns, and usually with either 3 complete stories or sometimes a 'book-length novel'—all for a thin dime. When the price went up to 12 cents, it was a little shocking for an 8, 9, 10 year old, whatever I was, but the editors explained it so that even an 8, 9, 10 year old, whatever I was, could understand.

A few years later the price went up again to 15 cents, and again the editors explained. By then I was a working teen and had enough money that 3 more cents each was very reasonable. And you know why? Because each comic was STILL entertaining, including house ads and letter columns, and usually with either 3 complete stories or more likely those days a "book-length novel", and every other page wasn't a full page ad or spread that completely disrupted the flow of a story.

I don't even know what comics cost these days, but I would have to think there is a limit to how much the price can rise for a simple comic. Could it EVER come to $9.95 for a simple comic book? I guess that's why these days it must be that every other page is a four-color slick ad for a computer game or whatever.

Nostalgic old fart, over and out.

Above and below, 15 centers, and all the comics were fun!

Fanfare

Another cover by Chiodo, and below that, its prelim sketch.

Joe Chiodo — Marvel Fanfare #56 — 1991

Joe Chiodo — preliminary drawing — 1991

More Entertaining

Truth be told, I have purchased many a comic book just for the cover. No dis intended for the creative folks working on the interiors, but many a time the cover is more entertaining. That's why certain artists have specialized in covers, cuz they know how to get people like me to get out their wallet.

Joe Chiodo is one of those specialists, and you might want to check out his official website, here.

I'm going to start a new category label here called, um, let's see, how about PulledOutMyWalletJustForTheCover.

Joe Chiodo — Marvel Fanfare #59 — 1991

I love that there are no blurbs on this cover, not even a barcode. Somebody made the right decision here. Good gosh, has it really been nearly 21 years since this stood out on the current comics section?

Don Juan

This is a case where the horse looks better more than Barrymore.

Don Juan — movie poster — 1926

Bold, Colorful & Dynamic

Milton Caniff was sort of a boyhood hero of mine, though I look back on his prodigious output of work and admit that, while some work is truly great, some of his work is almost repulsive. What a thing to admit about a hero, but some of his characters and storylines were awkward, usually when romance was involved, and he had a lot of romance tangled in his stories, he said, because it was mom and pop who bought the newspapers, not the kids.

Well anyway, much of Caniff's work is worthy of the praise generally bestowed on it, and it was a treat to be able to follow Steve Canyon from its beginning in a library of affordable, beautifully produced square-bound magazines that came out on a bi-monthly schedule. Besides the obvious attraction of Caniff's work, it was Peter Poplaski, as editor/art director, that gave 'sex appeal' to each magazine. Poplaski's graphic design for the covers were bold, colorful and dynamic—seducing me into buying each and every issue. Here's a batch of them:

Mirk-Wood Times

Thinking of John Severin had me leafing through some old materials and I came across this interview with him in the old Mirk-Wood Times from March of 1973. Anybody here remember The Mirk-Wood Times? What great times (Mirk-Wood and otherwise) back then, throughout the world of comics and fantasy.

John Severin — self portrait

". . . For I am . . . Death!" sends chills up my spine.

Severin

I'm very sad to hear of the passing of John Severin, part of the legendary pantheon of comic book artists. I had some nice encounters with him and we were neighbors.

Condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

John Severin — original art

Beauty and Decay

An interesting modern illustration that hearkens back to older times:

Vania Zouravliov — Fate — 2007

Look for a beautiful book of Zouravliov's work by clicking here. And here is a blurb about him from that link:

Russian-born Vania Zouravliov’s surreally haunting illustrations capture a mixture of innocence, beauty, and decay. He draws inspiration from sources as seemingly opposite as Russian folklore, Japanese illustration, and pop culture. His resulting drawings are elaborately composed and demonstrate the technical brilliance of an old master.

Defensive Formation

Imagine that. One simple average panel for Hal Foster . . .

Hal Foster — Prince Valiant — panel detail —8-3-1969

Soldier Girls

I was reading over the weekend that the U.S. military is amending its policy to allow women to serve in more combat oriented duty than previously, though not quite yet as infantry grunts.

That's nothing new to some countries and cultures.

Antonio Gómez R. — Las Soldaderas — 1938

Antonio Gómez R. — Soldaderas — 1940

Postcard

This is quite an explicit postcard for its time of around 1900. I would imagine the postal carrier would raise an eyebrow or two or three as he handed it to the recipient. Wasn't it usually Puck that rode around on a bat's back?

Faerie postcard — ca 1900

Ephemeral and Elusive

Light and airy, ephemeral and elusive, the apparitions of Gilbert Williams' paintings hint of overlapping universes. I don't have the titles of any of these paintings below, but do we really need them?

UPDATE: I had been misinformed about this artist's name, and I do apologize for it, to Mr. Williams and to all of you. Mark Roland corrected my information and I have corrected it above. Gilbert Williams is well-known and has a great selection of work available on his website which you can click to here. Plenty of information is available for him. Oy, sorry 'bout that.

All above, © Gilbert Williams