Ragged Claws Network

A while ago, I posted a modest selection of “Jones Touch” comic strips by Jeffrey Jones. Well, today Mr. Door Tree over at the “Golden Age Comic Book Stories” blog has done us all a favour by posting a slightly more generous selection of “Jones Touch” strips that features larger and better quality scans that I was able to offer here. (I posted five strips altogether; Mr. Door Tree has posted that same five along with seven others you will no doubt want to see, although keep in mind that they’re defintely NSFW, i.e., not safe for work.) Click here to jump to Mr. Door Tree’s post at “Golden Age Comic Book Stories”, (And while you’re there, be sure to check out all the other work by Jeff Jones that Mr. Door Tree has posted since he started blogging. It’s an impressive collection!)

Alien Worlds #4 (September 1983), pages 21 and 22:

You are definitely going to want to “Click Image to Enlarge” this one:

On 02 August 2007, the above painting sold at auction for US$17,327.50.

BONUS LINK:

Mr. Door Tree Presents: Jeff Jones: A Group of His Early Paintings, 1968 – 1980

These are all pen and ink on 8.5 x 11 inch sketchbook paper; they are undated but are likely from the 1990s or later:

The first time I saw the following hand-written letter, it was for sale on ebay. Although I was sorely tempted, having been an admirer of Jones’s ongoing self-education and steady development as an artist since the early 1980s, when in my late teens I purchased in quick succession the three Dragon’s Dream books, The Studio, Yesterday’s Lily, and Idyl, I could not afford at the time to bid for it — or, at least, I didn’t feel like I could justify the expense to my wife — so I let it slip through my fingers. However, as a compensation of sorts, I saved the JPEG from the auction listing, so I could re-read it later for inspiration, because the fact is that I DID, for various personal and professional reasons I won’t go into here, find it tremendously inspiring. But then, somehow, I misplaced the JPEG when I moved all my e-stuff to a new computer, this computer, and the fact is, I thought at that point I would never get to read it again. And I was okay with that. I shrugged and moved on. It wasn’t that big a deal. But today is my lucky day, because here it is:

I think the line that really gets me is this: “With the Lampoon for instance I am free to do whatever I want with my page.” A single page of unconstrained artistic freedom every month: that’s the modest but essential standard by which Jeffrey Jones judged proposed projects in 1973, five hectic years into his career in commercial art.

Small things, even ill-favoured things, are treasure when they are truly one’s own.

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Thanks to Rob Pistella for inviting me to use scans from his CAF gallery on this blog. Rob has a terrific and growing collection of artwork (and ephemera!) by Jeffrey Jones, and I am delighted to be in a position to highlight some of those items here.

Another landscape painting created en plein air by you-know-who:

Click here to view more landscapes by the same artist.

If you’re a fan of Jeffrey Jones’s art, and you’d love a lovely print to hang on your wall, Todd Adams of Glimmer Graphics has a number of items that might interest you:

Although the above images — with the exception Age of Innocence and Native Son — were provided via email directly to me, RC, by publisher Todd Adams, the information provided under each photo regarding sizes, prices, dates, and so on, is NOT official and is included simply to give you a general idea of what to expect should you decide to contact Todd to place an order. In other words, any errors here are the sole responsibility of this Web site, which is in no way associated with Todd Adams or his company, Glimmer Graphics. Todd’s contact email, which I’m making available here with Todd’s permission, is neo1948@comcast.net.

And I can tell you from first-hand experience that he DOES accept payment via PayPal, which to me as a buyer is always a plus for online transactions!

Here’s a revealing process sequence from Jeff Jones’s old Web site — I think I have them in the right order, except for the closeup at the end, which seems to come at a stage before the final shot of the full painting — along with three views of an absolutely first-rate sculpture (dated 1973) by Jones that appears to have been the model for the caveman in the painting, which I believe was created sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s:

I wish the images were larger, but as I’ve said before, beggars can’t be choosers…

BTW, based on the visual evidence alone, I have a hunch that the first photo of the “Neanderthal” sculpture is of the hand-hewn original from which the two “Neanderthal” sculptures in the second photo were cast, but don’t quote me on that. (N.B.: See Patrick Hill’s message in the comments section of this post for the real story on the photographs of Jones’s caveman sculpture.)

Here are three “Jones Touch” strips, all dated 1972, that were originally published in Swank Magazine:

Fantagraphics published a comic-book collection of “Jones Touch” strips in 1993 under their Eros imprint, but the book is long out of print. So if anyone has a copy they would be willing to sell me for a decent price, just let me know, because although I don’t own it, I would very much like to.

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UPDATE:

Turns out, I’ve been barking up the wrong trees, looking for the Eros “Jones Touch” collection in old back-issue bins and on ebay.ca, abebooks.com, etc., because Eros still lists the book in their Web catalogue. I was prompted to check the Eros catalogue by a recent post on the Fantagraphics blog, which — thank you very much — includes a link to RCN. I have placed an order, and will report back when the, ahem, booty arrives.

I do believe these are from the “Jones Touch” series of strips that was published in Swank Magazine:

What a difference good paper makes to the quality of the scans!

My apologies in advance for the poor quality of the scans in this post. It’s not easy to get decent results from thin, yellowing newsprint. But if you’re like me, you don’t want scans. You want a hardcover omnibus of every comic Jeffrey Jones has produced!

Published by Last Gasp in 1973 (36 years ago!), Spasm! collects the following short stories, all written and drawn by Jones, solo, for various pro and fan publications: “Co-Incidence” (2 pages), “Spirit of ’76″ (4 pages), “Saved” (2 pages), “The Enemy” (5 pages), “Luce” (2 pages), “Deja-Vu” (4 pages), “The Bridge” (3 pages), “Guarantee” (4 pages), and “Death” (5 pages).

Notice that Jones’s distinctive J-cartouche on the back cover is upside down. That’s no mistake on my part; rather, it’s the way the piece was printed. In fact, the identical motif of the woman cradling and kissing the skull also appears, with the same orientation, in a painting and a drawing I posted earlier. Then again, the back cover of Spasm! is reprinted, with the J-cartouche right-side up, in The Art of Jeffrey Jones (Underwood Books, 2002). So…