Archive for January, 2008
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
The One That Is Not Mentioned sent me a few nice examples of music-themed illustrations that appeared in the New Yorker last year. At the very least, this introduced me to the work of two illustrators that I wasn’t aware of before. The lively arts houses above are by Brazilian illustrator Fido Nesti and were published in the June 4 issue. The images below were created by Dan “Ghostshrimp” James and appeared in the April 2 and May 28 issue respectively. Neat !
By the way, I happened to see the Dirty Dozen Brass Band perform live last year, and they truly blew the roof off the house. Highly recommended !
Posted in Illustration, Music | No Comments » | Tags : Dan James, Fido Nesti, New Yorker
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
or, “How fickle the ways of inspiration are”. These were sent to me recently. Above, the cover of Startling Stories, november 1939 issue (sadly, I haven’t been able to find out who did this wonderful cover); below, Charles Addams, somewhat later…
I think it’s pretty remarkable that the pulp cover is more unsettling than the Addams cartoon. With my apologies for the bad quality of the latter scan.
(artwork © Charles Addams estate)
Posted in Illustration | 2 Comments » | Tags : Charles Addams, Startling Stories
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
“We’ve been walking for hours already, and we’re still not at the Angoulême Comics Festival”
“Well… We ARE walking against the reading direction…”
Nice self-referential comic from Kim Duchateau, in De Morgen.
Posted in Comic Strips | 1 Comment » | Tags : Angoulême, De Morgen, Kim Duchateau
Monday, January 28th, 2008
Posted in Advertising | No Comments » | Tags : Speech balloons
Monday, January 28th, 2008
In the early 1950’s, cartoonist Basil Wolverton was asked to come up with some horrific illustrations of what the Apocalypse will be like. According to Monte Wolverton, Basil’s son and a topical cartoonist in his own right, color versions of these images will be published later this year in a collected edition along with three hundred other Biblical illustrations.
Judging from the versions on the Wolvertoon site, this is something to look forward to. In the mean time, we still have the original black & white version (more after the break).
(artwork © Basil Wolverton estate)
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Illustration | 3 Comments » | Tags : Basil Wolverton
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
Smilin’ Ed’s Buster Brown Comics Book was a publication by Nillsen’s from Oklahoma, and featured all the characters from Smilin’ Ed McConnell’s weekly radio show. That show, a major hit on the NBC roster in the 1930’s and 40’s, was sponsored by Buster Brown, by that time long forgotten as a seminal comics character, but rather a trademark of a particular brand of children’s shoes (which, it turns out, is still in business).
Which only goes to show that the wheel goes round and round : you start as a comic book hero, and end up giving your name to a comic book that you don’t appear in. Or almost – these pages come from issue 23, and feature Buster Brown alongside Smilin’ Ed and his menagerie. The rest of the book contains exotic adventure stories, and one Smilin’ Ed story.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Advertising | No Comments » | Tags : Buster Brown
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
Here’s a nice piece of ephemera that I found on Usenet this weekend. CMO Comics was published in 1942 for the Chicago Mail Order Company by the very pompously called Comic Corporation Of America (it’s also listed as one of the latest titles published by Centaur). It ran for only two issues, and contained short stories about cowboys, movie stars, plain-clothes policemen and superheroes, none of which were signed, and none of which featured big name characters.
In fact, the stories aren’t that inventive or even intersting themselves, but rather seem to have only one raison d’être : showcasing the CMO products. On almost every page at least one panel is dedicated to items of clothing that feature in the story on that page (read on for examples). It’s so blatant, it’s baffling. And it predates all the click-through schemes you see in presentations about interactive TV nowadays. Nothing’s ever new, it would seem.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Advertising | 1 Comment » | Tags : C-M-O, Chicago Mail Order Company, Vintage
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
This map was published in the official DC Role Playing Game in 1990, and locates all East Coast cities that feature in DC Comics, including Gotham City and Metropolis. No sign of Blüdhaven, though, which miraculously sprouted from the ground in the early 2000’s.
I guess, with the DC titles glut of recent years, a map like this now would have to be some kind of 3D affair, with all earths on different planes.
Just thinking about this gives me a headache. More here.
(Thanks, Tom)
Posted in Comics | 2 Comments » | Tags : DC Comics
Friday, January 25th, 2008
This week’s Humo features a cover by Jeroom combines references to articles on near-death experiences and on the attitudes of Belgians towards money. It’s not a subtle cartoon (after all, this is Jeroom), but it’s a good one nevertheless.
Not so according to Disney’s local legal eagles. They are investigating if and how they can take action against this cover, which “goes to far”, according to spokesman Gil van Laer (in De Morgen).
(just to be on the safe side : cartoon © 2008, Jeroom; Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Eyore and Piglet, their likenesses and representation © Disney)
Posted in Illustration | 5 Comments » | Tags : Disney, Humo, Jeroom, Winnie The Pooh
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
On his Atom Bomb Bikini blog, Robert Ullman presents My Life as a Cartoonist (click through for full comic), which ran a while back in Richmond Magazine. I like the self-referentiality of the thing.
Posted in Web Comics | 2 Comments » | Tags : Robert Ullman
