"This day's experience, set in order, none of it left ragged or lying about, all of it gathered in like treasure and finished with, set aside." –Alice Munro, "What is Remembered"
Christmas tradition warns that each of the kids on Santa’s “naughty list” will get a lump of coal in his or her stocking, but fans of Creepy Magazine know that it could be a lot worse…
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“He sees you when you’re sleeping,
He knows when you’re awake.
He knows if you’ve been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake.”
— John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie,
“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” (1934)
I don’t usually like to buy stuff for myself this close to Christmas, but when Lewis Wayne Gallery announced a series of auctions with starting bids of a penny each, I had to take a look, and among the various offerings of art and photographs, I found two items I thought I’d like to own, if the price was right. And much to my surprise, earlier today, I won them both, and now I’m here to share them with you.
First up is a newspaper strip by John Dirks, the son of Rudolph Dirks, creator of the famous strip, The Katzenjammer Kids, which according to Wikipedia “debuted December 12, 1897 in the American Humorist, the Sunday supplement of William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal.” The strip we now own isn’t a Katzenjammer Kids strip but rather is a Sunday instalment, dated 20 April 1969, of The Captain and the Kids, a strip that Rudolph Dirks created for the rival Pulizer newspapers after he had a falling out with the Hearst newspaper syndicate in 1914 over his desire to take some time off; the legal settlement allowed Dirks to continue to use the characters he created in the Katzenjammer Kids, but since it also allowed the Katzenjammer Kids to continue at Hearst without him, Dirks was forced to come up with a new name for his version of the strip. At first, he settled on the title Hans und Fritz, in deference to the ethnicity of the main characters, but when the United States entered World War I, the German moniker was quickly replaced with an English one, The Captain and the Kids. The final auction price for the artwork was US$27.00 plus shipping, and here it is:
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Currently, the cheapest “Captain and the Kids” strips available from Lewis Wayne Gallery outside of the recently concluded penny-start auctions can be had for the “Buy It Now!” price US$89.95 plus shipping; meanwhile, the most expensive are US$295.00 plus shipping. So, I definitely feel like we got a deal.
The second newspaper strip that we have just added to our collection is a terrific Archie daily by Bob Montana from 29 July 1969:
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I love Bob Montana’s artwork here; I love the contrast between Jughead’s old-fashioned suit and tie and slicked-down hair and the trendy ’60s clothing and hairstyles of the other characters (although Archie is stuck with his usual do); and I love the gag! The final auction price for the strip was a mere US$58.57 plus shipping. And I love that, too! Because out of the pair of strips I had decided to bid on, the “Archie” strip was the one I wanted the most to win, and if the price had soared too high — my final bid was significantly higher than what I actually ended up paying — I would’ve had to allow the “Captain and the Kids” strip to slip through my fingers. How fortunate for me, then, that the auction for the “Archie” strip ended first!
In 1963, The Macmillan Company published Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe, with an afterword by Clifton Fadiman and illustrations by Russell Hoban. Hoban died this week of complications from quadruple bypass surgery, but his work as an illustrator, children’s author, and novelist lives on. All of the images in the following online gallery have been scanned by yours truly from a copy of Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe that I bought a few years ago at the annual book sale to benefit the Regina Symphony; I haven’t tried to equalize the space around the images but instead have left them as they appear on the page, printed at variable distances from the gutter. This post is part one of two. Enjoy! And don’t just take. Link.
Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part I <– YOU ARE HERE
Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part II
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Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part I <– YOU ARE HERE
Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part II
In 1963, The Macmillan Company published Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe, with an afterword by Clifton Fadiman and illustrations by Russell Hoban. Hoban died this week of complications from quadruple bypass surgery, but his work as an illustrator, children’s author, and novelist lives on. All of the images in the following online gallery have been scanned by yours truly from a copy of Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe that I bought a few years ago at the annual book sale to benefit the Regina Symphony; I haven’t tried to equalize the space around the images but instead have left them as they appear on the page, printed at variable distances from the gutter. This post is part two of two. Enjoy! And don’t just take. Link.
Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part I
Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part II <– YOU ARE HERE
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Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part I
Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part II <– YOU ARE HERE
I’m a couple of days late with this notice, and to tell you the truth, I don’t really have anything to say about the death of Russell Hoban that would be of interest to anyone, but I will probably be back to add to the list of links below as more notices and tributes to the great man appear on the Web, and I definitely plan to supplement this post with a visual tribute to Russell Hoban in the near future. So watch for updates!
UPDATE (16 December 2011): RCN’s VISUAL TRIBUTE TO RUSSELL HOBAN:
Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part I
Look Here: TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, illustrated by Russell Hoban, Part II
“I’m working on something now, and I worry I may drop dead before it’s finished… but come to think of it that’s true of any book you write.”
— Russell Hoban, in conversation with Will Self, 2010
FORMAL OBITUARIES:
guardian.co.uk > Russell Hoban Obituary by John Clute
io9 > R.I.P. Russell Hoban, Author of Over 50 Magical Children’s Books, Plus a Post-Apocalyptic Classic
New York Times > Russell Hoban, ‘Frances’ Author, Dies at 86. Here’s an excerpt that provides some facts about Hoban’s life:
Russell Conwell Hoban was born in Lansdale, Pa., west of Trenton, N.J., and north of Philadelphia, on Feb. 4, 1925. His parents were Ukrainian immigrants who opened a newsstand in Philadelphia. His father, who died when Russell was 12, also worked as an advertising manager for The Jewish Daily Forward.
After high school he attended art school in Philadelphia and served in the Army in Europe during World War II, earning a Bronze Star. At his death he was awaiting publication of a new book, “Soonchild,” due early next year.
“Writing was my father’s life,” Phoebe Hoban said Wednesday, “and when he died he had done what he needed to do.”
Mr. Hoban had lived in London since 1969. His first marriage ended in divorce. He is survived by his wife, the former Gundula Ahl; their three sons, Jake, Ben and Wieland; four children from his first marriage to Lillian Aberman: three daughters, Phoebe, Esmé and Julia, and a son, Brom; and 13 grandchildren.
“I think death will be a good career move for me.
People will say, ‘Yes, Hoban, he seems an interesting writer, let’s look at him again.'”
— Russell Hoban, interview (2002)
BONUS LINKS:
A.V. Club > Riddley Walker author Russell Hoban, interview by Todd VanDerWerff (April 30, 2010)
guardian.co.uk > Writers’ rooms: Russell Hoban — text by Russell Hoban, photo by Eamonn McCabe.
Ocelot Factory > THE HEAD OF ORPHEUS: A Russell Hoban Reference Page > An Interview with Russell Hoban by Edward Myers — originally published in The Literary Review in 1984.
wordsSHIFTminds > Russell Hoban the illustrator
From Creepy Things #1 (July 1975), here’s “The Well,” with script and art by Tom Sutton; the cover is by Sutton, too:
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Yesterday evening, we set up and decorated our tree, hung a wreath on the door, scattered Christmas knickknacks around the livingroom, etc., etc., while we listened to Christmas music from the 1940s and 50s. And a fun, relaxing time was had by all.
Here’s hoping that the holiday season gets off to a great start at your home, too, and that you receive your heart’s desire for Christmas this year.
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I invented a technique —my system of color overlays —which apparently nobody can understand, but it’s really very simple. The luminescent quality of my color overlays is derived from the way I combine the colors. I shoot the photomechanical separations myself, to a slightly higher contrast than a normal photo engraver would do. This makes the colors appear brighter. I’m excited when I do finally see the colors. I can see if my ideas work well or not so well.”
—Richard Corben in conversation with Brad Balfour,
Heavy Metal #53 (August 1981)
Ragged Claws Network 