This is an advertisment from the pulp magazine “10 Story Western”, from december 1949.
I like the naive, uninspired layout of this page, with a far fetched setting, and Gilette blades saving the day, providing good looks, prosperous business and sex within reach. It could be a parody, if it wasn’t real.
Also, what rugged sailor would say “They’re plenty keen” ?
In 1931, Hergé’s second Tintin album was published. Even though Herge would later on continue to recognise ‘Tintin Au Congo‘ (and rework it for color print), this book suffered from the same ailment as ‘Tintin au pays Des Soviets‘, which Hergé would later denounce (and only allow to be reprinted in the 1980’s). Rather than the result of meticulous research, it was a roller coaster of an adventure set in a Central Africa that told the adventures of the young reporter in a Central Africa made up of caricatures and fragments of hearsay and missionaries’ memories.
In 2001 both the Belgian post office and the République of Congo issued stamps to commemorate this. Which was quite a unique event.
Jan Van der Veken, a Belgian illustrator famed for the work he did for Drawn & Quarterly, has done a poster for a gig Belgian band Das Pop did in Turnhout.
Jan also did the cover for the most recent issue of Stripgids, which features a showcase of his recent work.
(via Strip Turnhout)
Judging from a first, look, they’re Marvel comics in every sense of the word. Still, the Patriot Comics campaign that Jeep set up with Marvel is quite an interesting experiment. People are able to suggest storylines and ideas for every page, or even every panel of the comic. You can also follow up on the creation process, from pencils over ink to color and lettering.
I like the interface that they’ve created for this website, which gives a new meaning to the concept of “infinite canvas”, focusing on the evolution of the comic in it’s creative process over time.
More information : Adweek.
I completely forgot to mention this, but Matt Madden has a blog !
In case you don’t know, Matt’s the genius behind 99 ways to tell a story, a showcase of the narrative possibilities of the cartoon medium.
He’s also my sole claim to fame, as I’m translating that book in Dutch, to be published in the fall. And I’ve met him ! Personally ! Yeah !
In 2004, the Belgian post office issued a special sheet to commemorate the Tintin story “Objectif Lune” and “On A Marché A La Lune”. The stamps featured scenes from the albums, along with two interesting reference documents. One of them is a picture of Hergé with a model the studio constructed in order to maintain a correct perspective in the drawings.
Overall, a very nice issue, which is still widely available on Ebay and other sources.
It would seem that last year, German weekly Der Spiegel saw the light, and showcased a few German new cartoonists on its website, with contributions by Uli Oesterle, Ulf K, Andreas Michalke and others.
The best one (pointed out to me by Draw!) was Reinhard Kleist’s “Johnny Cash“, which illustrates Sting’s Hung My head, as sung by Johnny Cash (in German). I’m a great Johnny Cash fan, and Kleist’s artwork really does him honor.
It’s a pity this was such a short-lived initiative…
Happy birthday !
Nerve is doing a Comics Issue this month, with new work added by Paul Pope, Sophie Crumb, Andi Watson (!), Chynna Clugston, Jim Mahfood (!) and Meg Hunt. Also interviews with Alison Bechdell, Peter Bagge, Evan Dorkin and Roz Chast. And finally a pretty good article on how teenagers relate to Neil Gaiman’s Endless.
Which reminds me, I have been reading quite a few old DC horror comics lately (thanks to the scanning community). It struck me that almost the complete backup roster of characters to The Sandman, which I thought was Neil Gaiman’s own invention, came from there ! The three witches, Eve, Cain, Abel, Destiny, there all there. Which, of course, doesn’t take anything away from Neil’s genius in tieing it all up into a neatly layered universe, but still…
