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SEE ALSO: Look Here: Five LOVE PROBLEMS with art by Lee Elias
Category: Look Here
Look Here: Five LOVE PROBLEMS with art by Lee Elias
Look Here: Illustrations by Sickles for the condensation of BELOVED
The following illustrations by Noel Sickles were originally published in Reader’s Digest Condensed Books: Spring 1956 Selections; I scanned them from a copy of the book that I purchased at a local thrift store:
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The two-page spreads don’t line up exactly, but I didn’t leave anything out. Whatever is missing from the centre of the images was missing in the original printing.
Look Here: Four small drawings by Joseph Lambert
Every so often, cartoonist Joseph Lambert stocks his SubSubShop with a variety of small drawings, and with the recent success of his comics collection I Will Bite You! And Other Stories and his superb graphic novel Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller, the drawings now tend to sell out shortly after they’re posted, and the prices, which some people — Lambert’s cartoonist buddy, Dustin Harbin, for instance — thought were too low to begin with, have started to rise. To date, I’ve purchased four drawings from Lambert, and here they are:
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The best way to secure a drawing for yourself, if you want one, is to follow Lambert’s “JoeSubmarine” twitter feed, which is where he usually gives advance notice that a new batch of drawings is about to be posted. Good luck!
Look Here, Read: “Postponed Honeymoon,” with art by Alex Toth
From Boy Loves Girl #47 (June 1954), here’s “Postponed Honeymoon,” with art by Alex Toth:
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Notice how, in panel after panel, Toth chooses to draw Joni looking at Hank rather than at her fiance Barney. The last panel of page two, the fifth panel on page three, and the fifth panel on page six are especially revealing in this regard; it’s the direction and intensity of Joni’s gaze that reveals her heart’s desire.
Look Here, Read: “No Love for Me,” with art by Alex Toth
From Boy Loves Girl #46 (May 1954), here’s “No Love for Me,” with art signed “Alexander Toth” and dated 1953:
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Look Here, Read: “I Played with Fire!” with art by Toth and Peppe
From Boy Loves Girl #43 (February 1954), here’s “I Played with Fire!” with pencils by Alex Toth and inks by Mike Peppe:
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Look Here: Another quartet of Agatha Christie covers with art by Tom Adams
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To view all of the Agatha Christie covers with art by Tom Adams that I’ve scanned and posted for your viewing pleasure, start here.
Look Here, Read: “Gruesome Charlie in ‘No Erect Penises'” by Jeff Johnson
At the end of January, I posted a “Heads Up” to alert collectors of comic art to the grand opening of the well-stocked Etsy shop of Atlanta-based artist Jess (née Jeff) Jonsin (née Johnson). At that time, I had already purchased page six of a story, “Gruesome Charlie in ‘No Erect Penises,'” that originally appeared in Zero Zero #4 (Fantagraphics, August 1995). In the days that followed, however, I found myself returning several times to Jess’s Etsy shop to examine the other five pages in the story. Each time, I half-expected that one or the other of the pages would be sold, but also sort of hoped they would all still be available for purchase, until finally I talked myself into making an offer on the lot of them. Jess graciously accepted my offer, so now I’m back to share, with Jess’s permission, the complete story scanned from the original art:
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Regarding the title of the story, Jess volunteered the following explanation during a conversation we’ve been having on Etsy:
And I wanted to tell you some things: The story you’ve bought was originally conceived for Blab! Monte [Beauchamp] didn’t think it suited, and I’m sure he was right; I reconfigured it later for Zero Zero. Kim [Thompson] only stipulated that there be “No Erect Penises” which kept me from calling it something appropriate like “Dancing Frogs.” The “Gruesome Charlie” character, or at least the name, has a hypnagogic origin, as does “Voluptuous Dog.” That’s all that comes to mind about that story right now. I do think it’s one of my more relatable efforts, almost in a Peter Bagge storytelling vein.
In addition to his new Etsy shop, Jess also has put together a new 198-page collection of comics that he originally published under the name Jeff Johnson. Here’s Jess’s description of the collection, which bears the anagrammatic title, Sad Brat, Bad Star:
This is a collection of comics originally printed as zines in 1990-91: Filth, Symbiosis, Reality, Communion and The Moon in the Man. Two unfinished works are included; Felicity part one, written by the author’s deceased ex, and seventeen pages of the titular 1995 graphic novel that, had it not been abandoned, intended to deal with the germinal time and place from which the rest of these 200 pages originated. An idiosyncratic design sense stitches the lot together with a loosely cohesive hand, and a smattering of brief notes and introductory essays wander moodily along like an emotionally-unstable tour guide, offering an oddly endearing blend of impertinent trivia, crankish pettifoggery and raw catharsis wrapped in convoluted verbiage. This intensity is what keeps this shattered planet of uncouth continents spinning. You should visit this planet before it dies.
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Sad Brat, Bad Star: Comics 1988-1992 by Jeff Johnson is available via Amazon.com (and is eligible for free shipping if you live in the good ol’ U.S. of A.) as well as via the Amazon service site for self-publishers, CreateSpace.
Although I don’t own a copy of the collection just yet, I do intend to place an order soon… on March 10th, to be exact.
JESS JONSIN LINK ROUNDUP:
Apeiron — an illuminated zine, a video channel, and a library of booklets
The Door — Etsy shop
Jess Jonsin — website
jess jonsin (glutenmob) on Twitter
jessjonsin’s photostream
Sad Brat, Bad Star by Jeff Johnson at Amazon.com & CreateSpace
spambots + ziggurats – blog
Heads Up: “VIP: The Mad World of Virgil Partch”
Coming in mid to late 2013 from Fantagraphics:
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Here’s the publisher’s description of the book:
Only a few months after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor and the same year that Albert Camus offered the world his bleak vision of man’s existence by introducing his philosophical dictum of The Absurd, Virgil Partch burst onto the scene with his own twist on the phrase. Partch was a cartoonist who offered comic counterpoint to the grim headlines and a unique perspective on human nature in the pages of the nation’s most popular magazines.
Known to millions by his jazzy signature, VIP, this comic genius ushered in a new era of the gag cartoon — zany, sometimes surreal, always hilarious — that inspired a generation of fellow cartoonists starting in the 1940s and ’50s. His madcap style of humor was reflected in the cutting-edge comedic sensibilities of Burns & Allen, Jack Benny, Ernie Kovacs, Bob & Ray, Stan Freberg, and Jean Shepherd, and would position Partch as one of the most prolific “gag-men” of his day. VIP contributed to an astonishing array of magazines, wrote gags for other cartoonists, illustrated books, album covers, and advertisements, and adorned merchandise including, appropriately, cocktail glasses.
VIP: The Mad World of Virgil Partch [hardcover, 240 pages] is the first time Partch’s life and career has been treated in full, collecting amazing artwork from the entire range of his inspired career — reprinted from original art, primary-source publications, and collectors’ and family archives — and featuring his own writings. VIP’s place in the world of cartooning and humor can finally be fully appreciated in this beautiful coffee-table volume.
It’s easy to find work by Virgil Partch on the web; he seems to be every nerd and geek’s favourite gag cartoonist (along with Gahan Wilson). But to save you a few clicks — especially those of you who have been living under a rock and have never seen Partch’s work before — I’ve decided to scan and post the cover and the first six pages from the 1955 collection, Funny Cartoons by VIP (Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett,1955); you’ll find the JPEGs below, along with a shockingly conventional colour gag cartoon by Partch that was published in 1967:
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Ah, who am I kidding? Now that I’ve whet your appetite, you’re definitely going to want to search Google images for more Partch gold.
Ragged Claws Network 