That Silly Season

Ah, the first ever appearance of Uncle Scrooge McDuck, from Christmas on Bear Mountain, already iconic in his first panel. Zoom in on the iconic beauty of Carl Barks' art.

Carl Barks — Christmas on Bear Mountain — December 1947

Bright Spot

A panel from today's 'Pickles', by Brian Crane—one of the bright spots of the comic pages of the current newspaper offerings.

© 2011 Brian Crane

Generosity

I see a lot of 'bell-ringers' out this season, and they represent an awful lot of people who deserve to benefit from any generosity that we can afford to give. We're all in this together!

Russell Patterson — 1930s

This Ain't No Season to be Sad!

Cliff Sterrett was a cartoonist's cartoonist, full of wit and whimsy in his art and 'plotting'. This Christmas package is from 1939, a very good year for pop creativity.

Above, detail from below.

Cliff Sterrett — Polly and Her Pals — December 17, 1939

Revealing Other Realms

You can always count on Kinuko Craft to reveal other realms by opening an enchanted connection to the golden age . . .

Kinuko Craft — Song for the Basilisk — 1997

Magic

There's magic in the air . . .

Luis Royo — Heavy Metal magazine

Design Zeitgeist

In my opinion, our society made a HUGE mistake in 'progressing' beyond the design of the times of the '20s and '30s.

Oh I'm so glad we made progress in civil rights, and I'm happy with digital technology, but really, the design zeitgeist did not need a lot of improvement . . . in my opinion.

1929 Studebaker Roadster, 5 wire wheels standard

with roomy rumble seat

Crowded Corner

Empty air is as important as a crowded corner of the universe . . .

Kwason Suzuki — Blue Finches —1911

Here Be Suitors

What a tasty little panel from a bygone era . . .

Mary S. Reeve — decorative panel — 1916

Last Atlantean

Of course you've seen this magnificent print by Barry Smith, and probably have it in your collection, but I'm posting it here, just 'cause I want to. Zoom in on the beautiful rendering detail.

Barry Windsor-Smith — The Last Atlantean — 1981

Luxury and Indolence

Hal Foster really 'illustrated' the Prince Valiant comic strip, rather than 'cartooned' it, composing more detail into one panel than most Sunday strips had in their entirety. It's almost ludicrous to turn over one of the published Valiant full pages to see Yogi Bear, ViP, and Wizard of Id with their simplistic, repetitive graphics.

For the ongoing Paneltopia category, here is another isolated panel that deserves to be examined in closer detail.

Hal Foster — Prince Valiant

Classic Christmas Peanuts

I'm so into images of all sorts that I even scan wrapping paper . . .

Charles Schulz —Classic Christmas Peanuts

—covered a present I received years ago—

Skate Date

What a sweetheart. If I was her age in 1929, I would SO ask her out for a skate date, catch snowflakes on our tongues, drink hot chocolate together.

Honey, I SAID if I was her age, meaning I wouldn't have met you yet.

Rolf Armstrong — College Humor — December 1929

Meanwhile . . .

Maurice Greiffenhagen

Mermaid

ca 1900

Frazetta-esque

I don't know the date of this painting by John Hamberger, but it was used as the cover for a nice book for young readers, Sea Monsters of Long Ago, which I think is available as a modern reprint. This painting certainly has a spooky, if not romantic, atmosphere that makes you glad that you live here and now. It has a bit of Frazetta-esque quality to it.

John Hamberger — Sea Monsters of Long Ago

Color Kid

Did you know that today was Color Kid's birthday? Or is his birthday, or um, will be his birthday...um sometime in the...far future?

This calendar was officially sanctioned by DC, so it's sorta official about these other birthdays and stuff. Oh, and this calendar doesn't match this year's alignment, so don't be setting appointments by it, you'd be a day late... or early...or something.

Incidentally

I'm thinking I might be of the same religion as the Davidsons.

Eldon Dedini — Playboy cartoon — watercolor

Simplest of Materials

The simplest of materials can create a wonderful work of art — with a good hand and mind controlling them, of course!

James McNeill Whistler — The Japanese Dress — ca 1878

pencil, chalk and pastel on brown paper

Process

Oh, and here's a sequence that gives you a visual hint as to the process of illustration rendering for Richard Corben.

Richard Corben

Portals of the Imagination

Let's post up a couple more panels for Paneltopia, these from a colorful graphic novel adaptation of New Tales of the Arabian Nights by Richard Corben.

Telling tales well is a magical art, as Shahrazad (and Corben) demonstrate here. These kinds of panels make you want to step into them, as portals of the imagination they are.

Richard Corben — New Tales of the Arabian Nights

Richard Corben — New Tales of the Arabian Nights