Month: March 2012

Art Collection · Drawing · John Buscema · Look Here

Look Here: Five sketches by John Buscema

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From our modest collection of original art by various hands, here are five small sketches by John Buscema for you to peruse; if you click the images displayed below so as to enlarge them, you will find that the uploaded images are actually large enough to repay close study:

[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]

All five of the above sketches currently reside in a 12 x 12 inch, 3-ring scrapbook album in our living room. In case you’re wondering how they’re displayed, each sketch is attached to the centre of one side of an acid free sheet with acid free photo corners. Works for me.

Enjoy!

But please remember: don’t just take; link. (Yes, I’m talking to you, PNN.)

UPDATE (01 April 2012):

I just posted a second batch of five sketches by John Buscema. I hope you enjoy seeing them!

Heads Up! · John Buscema

Heads Up: BIG JOHN BUSCEMA: COMICS & DRAWINGS

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Coming in July from IDW:

Big John Buscema: Comics & Drawings [Hardcover]
N/A (Author), John Buscema (Artist)

  • Hardcover: 328 pages
  • Publisher: IDW Publishing (July 3 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1613771959
  • ISBN-13: 978-1613771952

Product Description:

“John Buscema has been called one of the finest comic artists who ever put pen to paper. His work for Marvel Comics on The Avengers, Thor, The Fantastic Four, and Silver Surfer are all classics, highly regarded by fans from around the world. The same is true for his definitive rendition of Conan the Barbarian — Buscema breathed life into Robert E. Howard’s legendary creation in a manner that has rarely been rivaled. IDW is proud to announce the first American publication of John Buscema: Comics & Drawings, a special edition of the fine art catalog created for the most extensive exhibition of Buscema’s art ever staged. Weighing in at nearly 300-pages, this gorgeous hardcover book is a dream come true for fans of the visual mastery of John Buscema, an artist who’s ilk we are unlikely to see again.”

As excellent as his comics art was, especially when he inked his own work, John Buscema did not love to draw comics. He did, however, love to draw. Even after a full day’s work in the “Marvel Bullpen,” Busema’s idea of relaxation was to spend a few hours in the evening covering sketchbook sheets, copier paper, surplus comics boards, and even the backs of pages destined for reproduction, with sketches and studies that not only related to whatever work he had on his plate at the time but also served as an outlet for his personal obsessions — cowboys, horses, pirates, vikings, beautiful women, big cats, hand-to-hand combat, unusual character faces, etc., etc.

If you’re interested in Buscema’s sketches, three books have been published that, with varying degrees of success and failure, try to cover the territory: 1) The Art of John Buscema (1978), 2) John Buscema Sketchbook (Vanguard, 2001), and 3) John Buscema: A Life in Sketches (Pearl Press, 2008). I wish I could wholeheartedly endorse one of those books, but each has shortcomings in terms of design and/or reproduction that prevent me from doing so.

I suppose I might also mention that a four-page illustrated feature, “John Buscema: The Lost Drawings,” appeared in Heavy Metal Magazine in November 2011; by my count, the article includes reproductions — one large, the rest quite small — of a grand total of nineteen sketches.

No… in truth, the best place to view Buscema sketches is on the Web.

Speaking of which…

In our small collection of art by John Buscema, my wife and I have a couple of signed pages of pencilled and partially inked figure drawings on full sheets of sketchbook paper, ten signed sketches clipped by Buscema himself from larger sheets, an unusual signed graphite sketch on a sheet on copier paper, and a Conan page that the artist pencilled, inked, and shaded in what appears to be black grease pencil (a.k.a., china marker). So, obviously, somebody in our house is a bit of a Buscema fan!

For my next post, I plan to scan and share five of the small, signed sketches by Buscema in our collection, and I promise to follow that post up a bit later with another five.

Al Williamson · Bernie Krigstein · Frank Frazetta · Gahan Wilson · Heads Up! · Jack Davis · Joe Kubert

Heads Up: A selection of new books coming soon from Fantagraphics!

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Every once in a while, I like to use the Amazon “Advanced Search” to find out what I have to look forward to in the coming months from my favourite publishers. Sometimes the information published in the Amazon catalogue is not precisely accurate. Sometimes a book will be credited to the wrong publisher. Often the books are listed without descriptions or cover images. Often the publication date that is listed turns out to be wildly optimistic. I think you get the picture. Anyway, today I was looking for forthcoming books available for pre-order from venerable comics publisher, Fantagraphics, and I just thought I’d share with you some of the titles that caught my eye. I don’t know if I will be willing or able to purchase all of these books if and when they finally are released, but they are all titles that I, and perhaps you, will definitely want to consider. So, without further ado, here’s my very tentative shopping list:

[NO IMAGE — that’s not an error; that’s my way of letting you know that there’s no image yet in the Amazon catalogue.]

Problematic: Selected Sketchbook Drawings 2004-2011 [Hardcover]
Jim Woodring (Author)

  • Hardcover: 300 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (October 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606995944
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606995945

[NO DESCRIPTION — but it doesn’t matter; for me, it’s a must have!]

[NO IMAGE]

The Love and Rockets Reader: From Hoppers to Palomar [Paperback]
Marc Sobel (Author), Los Bros Hernandez (Illustrator)

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (October 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606995928
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606995921

[NO DESCRIPTION — I want to know what this is before I pre-order, but they’ve got my attention.]

[NO IMAGE]

The Love and Rockets Companion: 30 Years (and Counting)< [Paperback]
Neil Gaiman (Contributor), Marc Sobel (Editor), Kristy Valenti (Editor)

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (September 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606995790
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606995792

[NO DESCRIPTION — again, I want to know what’s in this!]

DAL TOKYO [Hardcover]
Gary Panter (Author, Artist)

  • Hardcover: 212 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books; 1 edition (Jun 12 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1560978864
  • ISBN-13: 978-1560978862

Product Description

“Dal Tokyo was a monthly comic strip, drawn in Panter’s groundbreaking “ratty line,” about a future Mars that is terra-formed by Texan and Japanese workers. In 1983 the L.A. Reader published the first 63 strips. A few years later, the Japanese reggae magazine Riddim picked up the strip, and Panter continued the saga of Dal Tokyo in installments for over a decade.”

About the Author

“GARY PANTER (Brooklyn, New York) is the author of Jimbo in Purgatory and Jimbo’s Inferno.”

[There’s some of Panter’s work that I like and some that I don’t. Dal Tokyo, however, is one that I will definitely consider purchasing. I won’t pre-order, though.]

[NO IMAGE]

Love and Rockets: The Covers [Hardcover]
Los Bros Hernandez (Author)

  • Hardcover: 200 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (November 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606995987
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606995983

[NO DESCRIPTION — but an easy decision: a must have!]

[NO IMAGE]

Weird Horrors & Daring Adventures [Hardcover]
Joe Kubert (Author), Bill Schelly (Editor)

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (September 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606995812
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606995815

[NO DESCRIPTION — but very tempting nonetheless!]

[NO IMAGE]

Messages in a Bottle: Comic Book Stories by B. Krigstein [Paperback]
B. (Bernard) Krigstein (Author), Greg Sadowski (Editor)

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (March 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606995804
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606995808

[NO DESCRIPTION — doesn’t matter, I want it!]

[NO IMAGE]

Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics [Hardcover]
Gahan Wilson (Author)

  • Hardcover: 184 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (February 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606996126
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606996126

[NO DESCRIPTION — Do I need another collection of Wilson cartoons? Nope. Do I want another one? Yep. Will I be able to afford one? Time will tell.]

[NO IMAGE]

“‘Taint the Meat…It’s the Humanity!” and Other Stories [Hardcover]
Jack Davis (Author), Al Feldstein (Author), Gary Groth (Editor)

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (January 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606995782
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606995785

[NO DESCRIPTION — but probably part of Fantagraphics’ new EC Comics Library, and therefore a must have!]

“50 Girls 50” and Other Stories [Hardcover]
Frank Frazetta (Author), Al Williamson (Author), Gary Groth (Editor)

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (January 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1606995774
  • ISBN-13: 978-1606995778

[NO DESCRIPTION — again, if it’s part of the new EC Comics Library from Fantagraphics, it’s a must have!]

Notice that I haven’t linked to any of the books listed above at Amazon or any other bookseller. That’s deliberate on my part. I’m not trying to make money by enticing you to buy things via RCN. My sole interest is to promote the kind of books that I enjoy so that those books will sell more copies and (maybe) publishers will keep producing the kind of books that I enjoy.

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Well… that was interesting…

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lover_p11of15-panel4_this-magazine-is-haunted-v2n11_june1953

It’s been a tense 24 hours here at RCN headquarters, but that’s what you get when you decide to change hosts at the drop of a hat. I still have a few images to upload, but other than that, I think I’ve almost got everything working again.

If you notice any problems, please reply to this post and let me know.

I know I’ve lost a few comments in the move. You’ll have to take my word that it couldn’t be helped.

My apologies to those whose comments were lost.

Excelsior?

UPDATE (26 March 2012):

Five things I’ve learned in the past week:

1. WP-SpamFree is an effective plugin to reduce WordPress spam, but it’s a resource hog; same, same, for SI CAPTCHA Anti-Spam. If you need to reduce your site’s use of system resources on a shared server, choose something else.

2. Google’s WP reCAPTCHA is an effective plugin to reduce WordPress spam, but it is NOT a resource hog because the CAPTCHA graphic is produced by a server other than the one that hosts your account; that’s desirable because the process of generating the CAPTCHA image can be resource intensive.

3. The efficiency and responsiveness of your WordPress blog can often be improved, and its resource demands diminished, via the installation of a caching plugin. WP Super Cache is a good choice, because it is simple to set up and is a proven workhorse. If you can, set WP Super Cache to “Use mod_rewrite to serve cache files.” Why? It’s all about speed, folks!

4. If you take the above steps to reduce your blog’s use of system resources, it still may not be sufficient to make your WordPress installation perform within your hosting company’s expectations on a shared server. Nobody tells you this when you sign up with a blog host, but your access to server resources is what is key when you’re running a WordPress blog, not “unlimited” file storage, or “unmetered” bandwidth, or the number of domains and subdomains you can host, or the number of SQL databases or FTP accounts or email accounts you can create, or access to your own cPanel with all the bells and whistles, etc., etc. Although such things are certainly important, when you’re running a WordPress site, access to server resources is the one ring that rules them all.

5. Fast, knowledgeable, reliable, helpful customer service and technical support are worth their weight in gold.

P.S. I hope to be able to resume regular posting in a day or two. RCN may seem to be on life support at the moment, but it’s not dead yet…

Book/Magazine Covers (Jones) · Drawings and Sketches (Jones) · Illustration Art · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Look There

Look There: Most of the Sci-Fi digest illustrations by Jeffrey Jones, published from 1967 to 1975

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— THE GOLDEN AGE —

BONUS LINK:

After I posted the above link, the thought occurred to me that many of those illustrations by Jones are exactly the right proportion for bookmarks. So I used Irfanview to quickly assemble a panoramic image of five of the nicest family-friendly images, added some light grey guidelines so I could cut them out with a box cutter and a metal ruler, printed them off at the highest quality on a full sheet of glossy photo paper, carefully sliced along the guidelines, and basked in the glow of my very own Jones bookmarks.

DIY Jones Bookmarked - trimmed and untrimmed

Here’s my file for you to download and print some bookmarks for yourself, too. Give it a try! If you keep your expectations low, and you have a good printer and good photo paper at your disposal, you just might be pleasantly surprised how nice the bookmarks look when you’re done.

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Comics · Fred Schrier · Harvey Kurtzman · Here, Read · Illustration Art · Look Here · Victor Moscoso

Look Here, Read: Back Cover Comix

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Underground comics, or comix, were typically printed in black and white on cheap pulp paper and stapled together with a colour cover printed on glossier stock. While many underground artists/publishers over the years have reserved the back cover as a showcase for full-page illustrations in colour, others have viewed it as an opportunity to give one carefully selected comics page a more lavish treatment! Here are thirteen “back cover comix” — twelve sequential; one non-sequential — from various underground comics with publication dates ranging from 1970 to 1993; information for each piece is embedded in the file title. Listed in the order their work is displayed below, the artists are Victor Moscoso, Foolbert Sturgeon, Fred Schrier, Skip Williamson, Lee Marrs (with Gail Madonea), Victor Moscoso (x2), B. Kliban, Harvey Kurtzman, Pokkettz, Gilbert Shelton, R. Diggs, and Stephane Blanquet:

[CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE]