"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"
From Darling Love #8 (Summer 1951), here’s “Cottage of Love,” with art by the incomparable Archie artist and 2012 Eisner Hall of Fame inductee, Harry Lucey, and script by the great unknown, and since the cover of Darling Love #8 is also by Lucey, I’ve included it as well, though it’s obviously just a recoloured version of the opening panel of the story:
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Coming this fall from Drawn and Quarterly:
Moomin’s Winter Follies description:
Due to the resounding success of the hardcover Moomin comics by Tove Jansson and Lars Jansson, D+Q is re-releasing these classic comics in an all-new format. Available in an affordable kid-proof but kid-friendly flexicover, and in full-color for the first time, these books are slimmer versions of the hardcovers, with one story in each volume while previous editions collected four. Moomin wakes up one morning to find the pond frozen over, and rather than hibernate, the family decides to brave the winter weather. At first, their wintry adventure seems to be going swimmingly, until Mr. Brisk of the Great Outdoors Club takes over and forces everyone to embrace the winter sports, whether they want to or not.
Moominvalley Turns Jungle description:
Due to the resounding success of the hardcover Moomin comics by Tove Jansson and Lars Jansson, D+Q is re-releasing these classic comics in an all-new format. Available in an affordable kid-proof but kid-friendly flexicover, and in full-color for the first time, these books are slimmer versions of the hardcovers, with one story in each volume while previous editions collected four. A crate filled with tropical seeds washes ashore, and when Moominmamma plants the seeds, a lush rainforest erupts in Moominvalley. When Stinky liberates some exotic animals from the zoo, chaos ensues, and the Moomins are forced to prove once and for all whether or not they’re related to hippopotamuses.
Moomin’s Winter Follies and Moominvalley Turns Jungle will each be 48 pages in length.
The online pre-order price is currently CDN$8.95 a piece.
Sample pages are online here.
From Unusual Tales #7 (May 1957), here’s “The Man Who Painted on Air,” cover and story, with art by Steve Ditko and script by the great unknown:
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Registered users can download Unusual Tales #7, in its entirety, via The Digital Comics Museum; the story posted above is a version of the DCM scan that has been run through GIMP to adjust the colour levels. The cover scan, which is from an online auction, has also been run through GIMP.
A nicely cleaned up (and slightly more muted) version of “The Man Who Painted on Air” is included in Unexplored Worlds: The Steve Ditko Archives, Vol. 2 (Fantagraphics, 2012).
For those who don’t aleady know, The Steve Ditko Archives, edited by Blake Bell, is a project to reprint all of the pre-Comics Code stories with art by Steve Ditko that have fallen into the public domain.
Unfortunately, the first volume in the series, Strange Suspense: The Steve Ditko Archives Vol. 1, is currently marked “sold out” in the publisher’s online catalogue.
The most recent volume, Mysterious Traveller: The Steve Ditko Archives, Vol. 3, was published earlier this spring.
Coming in September from IDW:
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From the press release:
Celebrate the 100th anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic creation
San Diego, CA (May 18, 2012) – Joe Kubert is one of the most lauded artists in the history of comics, a true living legend. He has been a vital creative force since the 1940s and remains so to this day. He has had defining runs on Hawkman, Enemy Ace, Tor, Sgt. Rock, and many others. Among his career highlights is Tarzan of the Apes, and Kubert’s rendition could arguably be called the definitive comic adaptation of the Ape-man.
“To have the Tarzan stories I drew commemorate the 100th anniversary of a strip I fell in love with as a kid is the thrill of a lifetime,” said Joe Kubert, writer and artist of all the stories in this Artist’s Edition.
This Artist’s Edition collects six complete Kubert Tarzan adventures, including the classic four-part origin story. Each page is vividly reproduced from the original art and presented as no comics readers have seen before. For fans of Kubert and Tarzan, this new entry in the Eisner-winning Artist’s Edition line must be seen to be believed!
2012 is the centennial year for Tarzan. Created by master storyteller Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan is instantly recognizable to countless fans around the globe. Other notable creations of Burroughs include John Carter of Mars, Korak, Carson of Venus, and At the Earth’s Core.
“I first read these comics when I was 10 years old, and they remain some of my favorite stories ever,” said Editor Scott Dunbier, “this is Joe Kubert at his absolute best.”
What is an Artist’s Edition? Artist’s Editions are printed the same size as the original art. While appearing to be in black & white, each page has been scanned in COLOR to mimic as closely as possible the experience of viewing the actual original art—for example, you are able to clearly see paste-overs, blue pencils in the art, editorial notes, and art corrections. Each page is printed the same size as drawn, and the paper selected is as close as possible to the original art board.
JOE KUBERT’S TARZAN OF THE APES: ARTIST’S EDITION ($100, hardcover, black and white, 156 pages, 12” x 17”) will be available in stores September 2012.
Of all the Artist’s Editions IDW has released so far, Joe Kubert’s Tarzan of the Apes is the one that I MOST want to own. When the book is available for pre-order, I’ll be there, credit card in hand.
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More covers, freshly scanned:
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To view all of the paperbacks with cover art by Paul Lehr that I’ve scanned and posted so far, click here.
Okay, maybe not the “great” unknown. But I still think it’s an interesting cover… and it’s freshly scanned by yours truly!
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BONUS VIDEO:
Coming in Fall 2012 from Fantagraphics:
Book description and details:
Joe Kubert is one of the greatest American comic-book cartoonists of all time; his Sgt. Rock of Easy Company, Enemy Ace, and Tarzan comics, all done for DC Comics during the 1960s and 1970s, are already the subject of archival editions. In the 1940s, young Kubert developed his design sense and realistic art style by freelancing for a variety of comic-book publishers in a glorious variety of non-superhero genres: horror, crime, science fiction, western, romance, humor, and more. For the first time, 33 of the best of these stories have been collected in one full-color volume, Weird Horrors and Daring Adventures: The Joe Kubert Archives Vol. 1 with a special emphasis on horror and crime … more violent and sexy (by contemporary standards) than much of his later, Code-constrained work.
Hardcover: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1606995812
ISBN-13: 978-1606995815
BONUS “LOOK HERE, READ” CONTENT:
From Eerie #3 (Oct.-Nov. 1951), here’s an example of the sort of story (now in the public domain) that you’re likely to find in the new collection:
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BONUS “CONNECTIONS” CONTENT:
Displayed in order of publication, the following images are by Max Elkan, Joe Kubert, Gil Kane; if anyone can find a picture of a Gil Kane haymaker published before the Max Elkan haymaker of 1949, you are welcome to share your discovery in the comments section of this post:
One aficionado of the Gil Kane haymaker, Dr. K, has identified what he believes to be the earliest example of a “Gil Kane punch”; the image, from a story published in 1955, is posted on his blog.
Ragged Claws Network 