Archive for the Comics Category

Courtesy of Tor.com, an original graphic story by a talented young artist, Ms. Wesley Allsbrook:

The Leviathan

I had exactly same feeling reading this piece as I had when I first read Jillian Tamaki’s City of Champions mini-comic and the shorter “comic book” edition of Skim a few years ago, i.e., this is someone to watch!

P.S. If you buy the superb Skim graphic novel from this Amazon.com link, you’ll be doing yourself a favour and Jillian herself will receive a little extra in her Amazon Associates account!

Bonus Links:

Wesley Allsbrook Illustration

Wesley’s Wallsblog

Fresh Paint: Wesley Allsbrook (interview)

Don't Cry for Me

As of 12 July 2008, my wife and I are the proud owners of the following artwork by cartoonist George Woodbridge:

Thumbnail George Woodbridge

George Woodbridge (1930-2004) joined Mad Magazine’s “usual gang of idiots” in 1957 and had work in nearly every issue thereafter. He also worked at Marvel during the 1950s on titles such as Astonishing, Battle Action, and Kid Colt.

Click the image to view a larger, more detailed scan of the artwork; the image area of the physical artwork is 9″ x 6″. Click here to view a scan of the image in its original context as part of a piece entitled “Appeals from Charities through History.”

The total price for the artwork, shipping included, was US$55.95. So now we have two–count ‘em, TWO–pieces by George Woodbridge in our modest but growing collection of original comic-book (and other) art.

Related links:

Graphic art by Alex Toth

The Blood Money of Galloping Chad Burgess,” The Unseen #5 (June 1952) .

Murder Mansion,” Adventures into Darkness #5 (August 1952).

Alice in Terrorland,” Lost Worlds #5 (October 1952), as reprinted/recoloured in Seduction of the Innocent #1.

The Phantom Ship,” Out of the Shadows #6 (October 1952).

Joe Yank: Black Market Mary,” Joe Yank #5 (1952).

The Hands of Don José,” Adventures into Darkness #9 (April 1953).

The Corpse That Lived,” Out of the Shadows #10 (October 1953).

Grip on Life,” The Unseen #12 (November 1953).

Images of Sand,” Out of the Shadows #12 (March 1954), as reprinted/recoloured in Seduction of the Innocent #4.

The Reaper,” Creepy #114 (January 1980) - story by Archie Goodwin.

Bonus link: Twenty Questions with Alex Toth.

Gratuitous link:Barney Rooster” with fabulously fluid funny-animal art by the fabulous Frank Frazetta.

Steadman Book Cover

At Adweek.com, I read “Profile: Ralph Steadman - Gonzo art through the Decades” by Eleftheria Parpis:

“There’s a saying: ‘In art there is no such thing as a mistake — a mistake is an excuse to do something else,’” says the 72-year-old artist. “That’s how I feel about drawing and writing. I couldn’t draw very well. I kept blotting things by accident, so I decided to make mistakes part of my work.” Which is how, he adds, his work evolved from the cleaner lines of illustrated books such as I, Leonardo and Sigmund Freud to the messier, frenetic style that later defined his most iconic creations, such as the drawings for Thompson’s novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

I caught up with Moving Pictures by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen:

I briefly browsed through the posts at GFXworld.org.

I admired the scans of Virgil Finlay’s H.P. Lovecraft illustrations, posted by Mr. Door Tree over at the blog, Golden Age Comic Book Stories: part one, part two and part three. Here’s a tiny taste (the images on Mr. Door Tree’s site are much larger):

I browsed through the latest images from the Phoenix Mars Mission. There are many more available today than there were yesterday.

I read/skimmed a few articles about the Democratic nomination campaign in the U.S., including this oddly uplifting profile of Barack Obama’s “body man” (an unusual term — or at least, one I’ve never heard before — that appears to be derived from “bodyguard”).

I went back to take another look at a small gallery of gorgeous cartoons by Ethel Hays. Love those sinuous ink lines! Love those flappers!

And I checked out Read Yourself Raw to see if the August preview list is up yet. It’s not.

To be continued…