Punch 'n' Judy on Holiday

William Steig — The New Yorker — May 31, 1982

Flight Into Yesterday

Earle Bergey had a way with painting women who were all woman, and painting men that were . . . well . . . um . . . that is . . . well, anyway.

Earle Bergey — Startling Stories — May 1951

Earle Bergey — Startling Stories — May 1949

For What Ails You, Boy

Nostalgia from back when Norman Rockwell used a rich muted palette and didn't work from photographs as heavily as he did later.

Norman Rockwell — The Saturday Evening Post — May 30, 1936

A Toast to the 'E' Generation

Barry Blitt — The New Yorker — May 29, 2000

Princess Minihahaskirt

I could only take Al Capp's world in little doses, and female presence, such as the princess here, always made it more bearable.

Al Capp — Li'l Abner — May 28, 1967

Cosmic-Radio Television

Comic strip cheesecake, with some nifty hardware. This is what I want the new Apple teevee to look like when it finally comes around.

Buck Rogers — panel detail — May 28, 1933

The Curse of Modern Technology

Barry Blitt — The New Yorker — May 28, 2001

Prospective Mates

Ed Dodd/Tom Hill — Mark Trail — May 27, 1973

Ball Room Dancer

W. T. Benda — The American Magazine — May 1933

Daughter of the Snake God

Pulp fiction. Yow.

Fantastic Adventures — May 1942

Jurassic Theater

Art Spiegelman — The New Yorker — May 26, 1997

E for Enigma

Saul Steinberg — The New Yorker — May 25, 1963

A Nice L'i'l Arrangement

Rather traditional, not controversial or edgy, but pretty.

Jenni Oliver — The New Yorker — May 25, 1981

Drawn on this Date, 60 Years Ago

Henry Clive — May 24, 1952

I Don't Even Know What to Title This

William Steig — The New Yorker — May 24, 1993

If I Were a Carpenter

S.W. Crane —Fortune — May, 1940

The Here and Now

Saul Steinberg — The New Yorker — May 24, 1999

In Chaucer's Youth

Hmm, this is confusing. I thought this author was Elizabeth Pennell, wife of Joseph Pennell, the artist—both of the late 19th, early 20th centuries. But her full name is Elizabeth Robins Pennell, and these initials certainly look like E. A. P.

I still thought perhaps the illustration was by Joseph Pennell, but no, it was by B.J. Rosenmeyer.

Yet, both Joseph and Elizabeth wrote and illustrated a book about the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer . . . so, is this author related to them?

Hmm.

B.J. Rosenmeyer — In Chaucer's Youth

St Nicholas magazine — May, 1903

B.J. Rosenmeyer — In Chaucer's Youth

St Nicholas magazine — May, 1903

Spring

J.C. Leyendecker — Saturday Evening Post — May 23, 1931

Send in the Clones

J.J. Sempé — The New Yorker — May 22, 2000

Send in the Clowns

Robert Tallon — The New Yorker — May 22, 1978

Takin' a Break at the Met

Edward Sorel — The New Yorker — May 21, 2001

A Novel of the Future

I constantly marvel at how the pulp artists were able to create compact compositions with so many elements in one small rectangle.

Rudolph Belarski — Startling Stories — May, 1941

Taking a Stab

Back to the genteel for the moment, this is an amazingly bucolic cover for one such as Charles Addams, taking a stab at an Escheresque concept, without a morbid element in sight.

Charles Addams — The New Yorker — May 19, 1975

House Where Evil Lived

The so-called 'shudder pulps' are quite a contrast to the genteel New Yorker covers, and the one shown here is one of the milder of those. This cover is so outrageous that the menace doesn't seem real, but look how effective the composition is — with the needle perfectly placed in front of the hyper-manic face, and the two doll women positioned perfectly in their nightmare distress.

Uncanny Tales — May, 1940

Ah, Late Night Sessions at the Students' League

Robert Kraus — The New Yorker — May, 18, 1963

5 Items or Less

Supermarkets have been around basically since the 1930s, but it was in the '50s that they ballooned in size and content.

This cover from 1957 is surprising to me for the similarity to our contemporary supermarkets — from the XPress checkout to the magazines and comic book section, to the record spinner and gourmet section. This cover looks a little like a Mad magazine layout without all the antics, 'cept for that kid getting ready to ram his cart into that guy. And geez, the New Yorker cost a measly 20 cents!

Charles Martin — The New Yorker — May 18, 1957

Really. A Fine Day. In May.

William Steig certainly kept the child's spirit alive in his work.

William Steig — The New Yorker — May 18, 1981

What Day is so Fine as a Day in May?

J.J. Sempé — The New Yorker — May 18, 1998

Red Coral

"Science stories", oh, indeed.

Hannes Bok — Other Worlds — May, 1951

Grow It Like It's 1999

William Joyce — The New Yorker — May 17, 1999

Allegorical Month

Mucha — The Month of May — 1895

Garment District

Iris Van Rynbach — The New Yorker — May 16, 1988

Tick Tick Tick

Carter Goodrich — The New Yorker — May 15, 2000

She Stops and Points

Another piece of candy, this from 73 years ago today, with that annoying redundancy of wasting text that describes the gesture.

Alex Raymond — Flash Gordon — May 14, 1939

Yummy

Here's a yummy bit of confection from precisely 80 years ago.

I love the modeling of the horse. Pure Leyendecker!

J.C. Leyendecker — Saturday Evening Post —May 14, 1932

New Blog

51 weeks ago, in May of last year, I created a new blog that only now have I had time to jumpstart, called Snippets and Bibbets. The blog will showcase all manner of artwork that our studio has created for kids. While art for kids is only a portion of what our studio gets involved in, I'm somewhat amazed at how many kids projects we've created, and how many art files we've stockpiled.

Much of that work has been large-scale art, for installations of all sorts, which we will be showcasing in the months ahead.

Just this month though, a book that we illustrated has been published and is being distributed. We are going to start the blog out by sharing some of the process of the book's development (it took three years on our part, though only a fraction of that was spent on actual artwork). We will show much of our preliminary work leading up to finishes, and discuss candidly the trials and tribulations of our experiences.

You can jump over there by clicking here, and I hope you will consider 'following' us as we pull open some old art files.

Haller and Buchanan — CinderSilly — Published May, 2012

© Dramatic Adventures, Inc.

Enemies Only Inches Away

Mark Trail had no superheroes, no continuity, no comic punchlines. What it had was really nice graphics and interesting nature factoids.

Ed Dodd/Tom Hill — Mark Trail — May 13, 1973

Why Won't Whistler Call?

Today is Mother's Day. If you're fortunate enough to have one, call her. She's wanting to hear from you, I'm sure. If you are a mother tuning in here, all the best to you!

Edward Sorel — The New Yorker — May 13, 1996

Mystery House

You've probably seen this cover before, but do you really mind seeing it again? I'd walk a mile or more to see Benda art.

W.T. Benda — The Shrine Magazine — May, 1927

One Egyptian Night

Romance — May, 1929

Update: Another choice bit of info from Mr. Door Tree: the artist for the above cover is Edgar Franklin Wittmack.

Thanks Mr. Door Tree!

Doom!

Gil Kane — The Micronauts — May, 1982

Neighborhood Watch

William Steig — The New Yorker — May 11, 1963

The Times, They Were A-Changin'

Art Spiegelman — The New Yorker — May 11, 1998

What the Duck ? !

Saul Steinberg — The New Yorker — May 11, 1987

Update: Thanks to a lead from docnad, I tracked down a pic, on Wiki, of this big duck— a building in Flanders, Suffolk County, New York, built in 1931 by a duck farmer.

The Spirit of Spring

George Herriman — Krazy Kat panel — May 11, 1924