Category: Look Here

Commonplace Book · Ephemera (Jones) · Look Here

Jeffrey Jones on artistic freedom…

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The first time I saw the following hand-written letter, it was for sale on ebay. Having been an admirer of Jones’s ongoing self-education and steady development as an artist since the early 1980s, when in my late teens I purchased in quick succession the three Dragon’s Dream books, The Studio, Yesterday’s Lily, and Idyl, I was sorely tempted. But I could not afford at the time to bid for it — or, at least, I didn’t feel like I could justify the expense to my wife — so I let it slip through my fingers. However, as a compensation of sorts, I saved the JPEG from the auction listing so that I could re-read it later for inspiration, because the fact is that I DID, for various personal and professional reasons I won’t go into here, find it tremendously inspiring. But then, somehow, I misplaced the JPEG when I moved all my e-stuff to a new computer, this computer, and the fact is, I thought at that point I would never get to read it again. And I was okay with that. I shrugged and moved on. It wasn’t that big a deal. But today is my lucky day, because here it is:

I think the line that really gets me is this: “With the Lampoon for instance I am free to do whatever I want with my page.” A single page of unconstrained artistic freedom every month: that’s the modest but essential standard by which Jeffrey Jones judged proposed projects in 1973, five hectic years into his career in commercial art.

Small things, even ill-favoured things, are treasure when they are truly one’s own.

———-

Thanks to Rob Pistella for inviting me to use scans from his CAF gallery on this blog. Rob has a terrific and growing collection of artwork (and ephemera!) by Jeffrey Jones, and I am delighted to be in a position to highlight some of those items here.

Illustration Art · Jeffrey "Jeff" Catherine Jones · Look Here

Look Here: Various prints by Jeffrey Jones

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If you’re a fan of Jeffrey Jones’s art, and you’d love a lovely print to hang on your wall, Todd Adams of Glimmer Graphics has a number of items that might interest you:

Although the above images — with the exception Age of Innocence and Native Son — were provided via email directly to me, RC, by publisher Todd Adams, the information regarding sizes, prices, dates, and so on, in the captions under each image is NOT official and is included simply to give you a general idea of what to expect should you decide to contact Todd to place an order.

In other words, any errors here are the sole responsibility of this Web site, which is in no way associated with Todd Adams or his company, Glimmer Graphics.

Todd’s contact email, which I’m making available here with Todd’s permission, is neo1948@comcast.net, and I can tell you from first-hand experience that Todd DOES accept payment via PayPal, which to me as a buyer is always a plus for online transactions.

Todd’s website, again: Glimmer Graphics. Check it out!

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

Look Here, Read: SPASM! (1973) by Jeffrey Jones

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My apologies in advance for the poor quality of the scans in this post. It’s not easy to get decent results from thin, yellowing newsprint. But if you’re like me, you don’t want scans. You want a hardcover omnibus of every comic Jeffrey Jones has produced!

Published by Last Gasp in 1973 (36 years ago!), Spasm! collects the following short stories, all written and drawn by Jones, solo, for various pro and fan publications: “Co-Incidence” (2 pages), “Spirit of ’76” (4 pages), “Saved” (2 pages), “The Enemy” (5 pages), “Luce” (2 pages), “Deja-Vu” (4 pages), “The Bridge” (3 pages), “Guarantee” (4 pages), and “Death” (5 pages).

Notice that Jones’s distinctive J-cartouche on the back cover is upside down. That’s no mistake on my part; rather, it’s the way the piece was printed. In fact, the identical motif of the woman cradling and kissing the skull also appears, with the same orientation, in a painting and a drawing I posted earlier. Then again, the back cover of Spasm! is reprinted, with the J-cartouche right-side up, in The Art of Jeffrey Jones (Underwood Books, 2002). So…

Comics · Here, Read · Jon Jay Muth · Look Here

Look Here, Read: “Synchrony” by Jon Jay Muth

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Here’s another early, heavily Jones-influenced* story by Jon Jay Muth:

What is it about death at the hands of “La belle Dame sans merci” that the young Romantic finds so alluring? Depends on what you mean by “death,” I suppose. But the Romantic goes further, conflating “la petit morte d’Holophernes” with “Le Morte d’Holophernes,” even though common sense says the two are drastically different things. Is common sense the enemy of art? At the very least, it would appear to be the enemy of Romanticism, new as well as old.

—–

* If I had to guess, I would say that comic artist and illustrator, Barry Windsor-Smith, who has drawn and painted numerous pictures over the years of historical and mythological women holding, fondling, and kissing the severed heads of young men, and who was himself a prominent member of the “New Romantic Brotherhood” of the late 1970s and early 1980s, was also a proximate influence on “Synchrony.”

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

Look Here: Three more paperback covers by Jeffrey Jones

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Jones really began to hit his stride as a skilled cover artist with a distinctive stylistic sensibility in the early 1970s:

Keywords: Thongor and the Dragon City, Kothar and the Wizard Slayer, The Quest of Kadji.

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

Look Here: Four more early paperback covers by Jeffrey Jones

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I don’t much care for any of these covers from 1968 and 1969, but since I have yet to break out of the collector/completist mentality — and believe me, I’ve tried — here they are, scanned and posted for your “enjoyment”:

To make up for the lacklustre art this time round, my next post will feature two covers by Jones from the early 1970s that I think are very strong, along with one that I have mixed feelings about, so stay tuned for that!

Keywords: Thongor at the End of Time, Master of the Etrax, Zanthar at Moon’s Madness, The Hybrid.

Comics · Here, Read · Jon Jay Muth · Look Here

Look Here, Read: “The Return” by Jon Jay Muth

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From Epic Illustrated #24 (June 1984), here’s “The Return,” by Jon Jay Muth:

Has Muth’s early work in comics ever been reprinted? Not that I know of, and it’s a damn shame, too!