Look Here: WORMS OF THE EARTH cover by Sanjulian

13 April 201011 August 2016 RC1 Comment

Although Spanish artist Sanjulian (born Manuel Pérez Clemente) is, perhaps, primarily known to older comics readers as a fan-favourite cover artist for Warren publications such as Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella, he has, in his long career, worked for a wide variety of publishing houses, advertising agencies, movie studios, and so on. What I particularly liked about Sanjulian’s fantasy art from the 1970s was his mastery of classical oil-painting technique, his solid draftsmanship, and his versatility and reliability as an image maker. Here’s a sample of the artist’s work for Ace Books, from 1979, scanned from the library of yours truly [along with a cover from 1988 — see explanation below]:

And yet, as much as I appreciate solid, sexy covers like Worms of the Earth, and generally admire Sanjulian’s early work as a fantasy cover artist, I can’t recommend the only book of Sanjulian’s art currently in print in English.

Sanjulian: Master Visionary, Volume One (SQP Inc., 2001) is filled with uninspired black-and-white compositions, mostly in pencil, that, like a lot of Sanjulian’s commercial works from the 1980s and beyond, seldom if ever manage to transcend their photographic reference material. Yes, there are eight pages of colour in the middle of the book, but none of the selected paintings come close to the best that Sanjulian had to offer, back in the day. Which is to say, in short, the whole project is a major disappointment!

Sanjulian deserves better.

———-

UPDATE (19 April 2010):

For the purposes of comparison, I have just added a sample of a toothless Sanjulian cover from 1988 to this post, and I have to say, I really and truly find it hard to believe that The White Serpent is by the same artist as Worms of the Earth. The decorative, Alphonse-Mucha-meets-stained-glass Art Nouveau style of The White Serpent, with its snaking jumbles of imagery interrupted by snaking black pseudo “lead lines,” will be familiar to the readers of a certain strain of brick-like romance novels, and no doubt covers in that style sell a lot of books (or why would publishers inflict them on book buyers!?), but man, everything about The White Serpent, from its rainbow colour palette to its unctuous paint surface, is so gooey, so cloying, so like pure corn syrup, straight from the jar, jazzed up with food colouring… unlike Mucha’s original confections, which were so perfectly formed, so sweetly balanced, so like the best kind of candy! Or maybe I’m just cranky this morning…

Art Collection · Comics · Ebay Win · Look Here · Samm Schwartz

Look Here: “Color Me True Love,” with art by Samm Schwartz

12 April 201016 January 2022 RC6 Comments

Here’s another selection from our stash of original comic art. It’s a complete short story from Jughead #321, with art by Samm Schwartz. My apologies in advance for the quality of the images; they were shot with an older digital camera under conditions that I ought to have controlled more carefully than I did.

(Click the images to enlarge them, as usual. I don’t own the cover artwork, but I’ve included a JPEG of the original comic, with cover by Stan Goldberg, for fun — and contrast!)

I bought the story on ebay a long time ago. It was in a lot with a complete Betty and Veronica story by Stan Goldberg. As I recall, the cost of the two stories together was less than US$100, shipping included. Maybe I’ll post the Goldberg another time… though I must admit, I’m not really a Goldberg fan…

When I was a youngster, my favourite “Archie” artists — even before I knew their names — were Samm Schwartz and Harry Lucey. In a corner of the comics world dominated by lacklustre DeCarlo clones, Schwartz and Lucey each took the seemingly inflexible “Archie” house style and made it his own. Schwartz’s work was cool, crisp, refined; Lucey’s, affable, energetic, theatrical. Jughead was never so self-assured, so unflappable, as when Schwartz brought him to life; Archie and the gang, never so determined, or so frazzled, as when Lucey fed them through the wringer. With Dan DeCarlo already in the Eisner Hall of Fame, and Bob Montana, the co-creator of Archie who drew the Riverdale gang for more than 30 years, named to the Hall of Fame for 2010, can Samm Schwartz and Harry Lucey be far behind? In my humble opinion, whether it happens sooner or later, it’s inevitable.

BONUS LINKS:

“It’s the Chicago South Side Choir Society! It’s their annual uplift cruise for Meditation Week!” — includes scans of “The Bad Old Days” and “In Search of Sanity,” both drawn by Samm Schwartz.

A Closer Look at Samm Schwartz — includes a scan of the story “Crowning Glory,” with art by you-know-who.

Samm Schwartz Addenda — further thoughts by Jaime J. Weinman, the author of “A Closer Look at Samm Schwartz.”

A Few Words about Samm Schwartz, My Father

Samm Schwartz Photo Album

A Loan and Blue — from 1963, with unusually hyper-kinetic art by Samm Schwartz; in later years, Schwartz’s Jughead never got out of control like this! It’s like watching Bugs Bunny melt down.

Little Archie by Samm Schwartz — wow!

Tippy Teen: “Sure Cure Go-Go” — with art by Samm Schwartz.

Art Collection · Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Drawing · Illustration Art · Look Here

Look Here: Mini-Comic Art by Jordan Crane

7 April 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

Here’s another piece of original comic art from our collection: a single pencilled-and-inked panel (image size: 11.4 cm wide x 12.5 cm high) from an out-of-print mini-comic, The Hand of Gold, by Jordan Crane. (You can read the comic online right here.) I bought the artwork back in September 2005, via Jordan Crane’s Comic Art Collective page, for US$20.00 plus $6.00 shipping. The artwork arrived with a short thank-you note handwritten by Jordan on the back of a card (13.9 x 18.4 cm) with an original design silkscreened on the front. I’ve included both the black-and-white artwork and the notecard image here for you, dear reader, to examine in detail, along with the first three covers of Jordan’s terrific one-man anthology comic, Uptight, published by Fantagraphics.

You can buy screen prints by Jordan Crane from the Reddingk.com site. Click here to see what’s currently available.

Finally, I just have to say: Jordan’s elaborately layered, wrap-around, die-cut dustjacket design for the hardcover edition of Michael Chabon’s essay collection, Maps and Legends (McSweeney’s, 2008), is gorgeous! Watch for it, currently remaindered at a Chapters near you!

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Frank Frazetta · Illustration Art · Look Here · Original art vs. printed page

Look Here: A third obscure paperback cover by Frank Frazetta

29 March 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

The paperback indicia doesn’t include a publication date, but according to a couple of Web sites, the Paperback Library reprint edition of Danger Planet, which featured “Captain Future, inter-galactic agent of justice, whose identity is top secret, whose strength is ultimate,” was published in 1969, some 24 years after the original!

Click Image to Enlarge — **ABOVE:** Brett Sterling, *Danger Planet* (New York: Popular Library, 1969), with cover by Frank Frazetta.

As you can see from the above image of the actual painting (which was painted on an 18.75 x 12.5 inch canvasboard panel!), the section with Frazetta’s signature, and much else, was cropped for the cover. Frazetta didn’t get an interior cover credit either. Because everybody knows it’s timeless action heroes like “Captain Future” that sell books, not cover artists…

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Illustration Art · Look Here · Paul Lehr

Look Here: Two SF covers by Paul Lehr

29 March 201011 August 2016 RC1 Comment

Click here to view all of the covers by Paul Lehr that I’ve posted to date.

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Illustration Art · Look Here · Paul Lehr

Look Here: Five more by Paul Lehr

4 March 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

paul-lehr_the-ring-of-ritornel_ny-berkley-1968 — **ABOVE:** Charles L. Harness, The Ring of Ritornel (New York: Berkley, 1968), with cover by Paul Lehr.

**ABOVE:** Edmund Cooper, *Kronk* (New York: Berkely, 1971), with cover by Paul Lehr.

**ABOVE:** Dav Garnett, *The Starseekers* (New York: Berkley, 1971), with cover by Paul Lehr.

paul-lehr_the-floating-zombie_ny-berkley-1975 — **ABOVE:** D. F. Jones, *The Floating Zombie* (New York: Berkley, 1975), with cover by Paul Lehr.

paul-lehr_the-slaves-of-heaven_ny-berkley-1975 — **ABOVE:** Edmund Cooper, *The Slaves of Heaven* (New York: Berkley, 1975), with cover by Paul Lehr.

Click here to view all of the Paul Lehr paperback covers I’ve posted so far.

Comics · Comics (Jones) · Here, Read · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Look Here · Look There

Look There, and Here: “Harry” by Jeffrey Jones

3 March 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

Over at Atomic Surgery, blogger Staq Mavlen has posted scans of Jeffrey Jones’s short story, “Harry,” from Vampirella #85, in crisp black and white. What Mavlen doesn’t mention is that “Harry” was originally published in Vampirella #32, with day-glo colours by none other than Richard Corben! To compare the two versions, simply click here to read the black-and-white reprint and scroll down on this page to read the original colour publication:

Anyone prefer the colour version?

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Book/Magazine Covers (Jones) · Illustration Art · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Look Here

Look Here: Two more paperback covers by Jeffrey Jones

2 March 201011 August 2016 RC1 Comment

The cavalcade of covers by Jeffrey Jones continues, though the pace is slowing…

**ABOVE:** Quinn Reade, *Quest of the Dark Lady* (New York: Belmont Books, 1969), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** J. Hunter Holly, *The Dark Planet* (New York: Macfadden-Bartell, 1971), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

Click here to view the entire collection (so far).

Comics · Here, Read · Leopoldo Duranona · Look Here

Look Here, Read: “Lay of the Sea,” with art by Leo Duranona

27 February 201011 August 2016 RCLeave a comment

From the pages of Devilina, volume 1, number 1 (January 1975), here’s the unfortunately named, but expertly illustrated, “Lay of the Sea,” with story by Gabe Levy and art by Leo Duranona (1938-):

Book/Magazine Covers (All) · Book/Magazine Covers (Jones) · Illustration Art · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Look Here · Samuel R. Delany

Look Here: Ten more paperback covers by Jeffrey Jones

5 February 201011 August 2016 RC4 Comments

The original reproduction on many of the following covers by Jeffrey Jones, all from the library of yours truly, was very poor, so my scans are sometimes not the best here. One exception is the last cover, Twilight of the Serpent, which actually showcases Jones’s artwork in more detail and with more lively colour than does the rather dour reproduction on the back cover of publisher Underwood-Miller’s lavish hardcover, The Art of Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** Robert Silverberg, ed., *Earthmen & Strangers* (New York: Dell, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** A. E. Van Vogt, *The Book of Ptath* (New York: Paperback Library, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** Samuel R. Delany, *The Jewels of Aptor* (New York: Ace, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, *The Incomplete Enchanter* (New York: Pyramid, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** Peter Saxon, *The Curse of Rathlaw* (New York: Prestige Books, 1968), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** Richard Meade, *The Sword of Morning Star* (New York: Signet, 1969), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** Frank Brunner, *Bedlam Planet* (New York: Ace, n.d.), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

**ABOVE:** Peter Valentine Timlett, *Twilight of the Serpent* (New York: Bantam Books, 1977), with cover by Jeffrey Jones.

My favourites this time around are the covers for The Curse of Rathlaw (1968), an early effort in which Jones’s attractive design for the vignette is nicely reinforced by the typography, and Twilight of the Serpent (1977), a later cover which displays Jones’s hard-won skills as a draftsman (or draughtsman, if you prefer), mastery of lost-and-found edges in oil painting, and increasing willingness in the 1970s and early 1980s to produce images that went against the grain of traditional heroic fantasy.