Blogs I Enjoy

I don't have a huge list of favourites

but there are a few Blogs that I have remained

faithful to and I feel the need to pass them along to 

anyone who may be interested.

The Golden Age

http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.ca

This guy has posted a wide variety of art related material over the years and I believe that it is all from his personal collection.

If he owns everything that he has put on display, then he has one the most amazing collections of Science Fiction, Fanzines and Original Art that I have ever seen.

Well worth a visit.

Cap'n's Comics

http://capnscomics.blogspot.ca

This is a far more comic book centric website with

plenty of SF and Fantasy book covers thrown in.

There is a definite bias toward the art of

Frank Frazetta

Barry Windsor Smith

Jeff Jones

Jack Kirby

Etc.

The guy who runs it does a very good job, much better than I do, of keeping up a regular flow of new or recycled material.

None of us are getting any younger and he freely admits to not caring if he is reposting things that he loves and finds beauty in.

Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

(Everything I Know about the art of Storyboarding)

http://www.sevencamels.blogspot.ca

Here we have a sort of Nuts & Bolts site.

Written by a professional, working in the industry,

that covers the techniques of making drawings that work.

Consistently interesting and informative

but due to the demands of his everyday job,

often times there are large spaces of time without

new material being added.

Voz Words

http://vozwords.blogspot.ca

The web presence of longtime comic book artist

Mike Vosburg.

Mike was one of the young men who seemed to pour into the comic book companies during the early 1970's and he contributed to a number of different titles.

Later on, he moved into the more lucrative field of movie storyboarding but he never truly forgot his roots and he has continued to put out his own comics, periodically, over the years.

Lori Lovecraft, has been the main character that he has used.
Mike was always, even in his earliest days, able to draw pretty women well and the stories that he has woven around Lori, have been a vehicle for him to explore the realms of B-Movie
settings and situations.

At the same time, he talks about his work, the things that interest him and the people he has met.

For a short while, new material was posted regularly but recently, the Blog seems to have stalled.

A real shame, because it is an interesting site.

Moving in a slightly different direction,
I recently bought a piece of Original Art from 
Mike Burkey of Romitaman
and I would like to promote his site here.

It is a great place to browse examples of Original Art from comic books, book covers and magazines, etc.

My experience in purchasing a piece from Mr. Burkey was as smooth as butter and I would not hesitate to recommend his services to anyone.  If I had more free money, he would get a lot of it!

Movies That Don't Really Work

Recently, I finally watched all of the Harry Potter movies, over the course of several days and while I found them all to be, generally entertaining, at the close of the final film... well, I felt that they held together poorly.

There were leaps of logic, which, for people who have read the books (I have not), may not be apparent but based solely on the information imparted by the story on the screen, I feel confused and incredulous at their popularity!

Harry Potter isn't the only example.

I also watched the new Mad Max movie, Fury Road

and while it is stocked with images that are like candy for the eye,

ultimately it is a very small story, poorly told.

AND YET,

people whose opinion I generally respect, had told me it was amazing, with a brilliance unmatched in film making for years!

Oh, well, one lives and learns.

Or rather, one should but I keep going back to the well for another drink, always expecting the water to taste better than it did last time.

I am starting to sound like my mother, may she rest in peace, who was appalled by the poor acting, pacing and story line of

"India Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark".

When it first came out and I was a lot younger than I am today, it seemed like the finest film making in the world but now, older and wiser, I can see her point.

I am unsure whether this disillusionment is a function of age, or not

but it seems to to be that a lot of things that we were captivated by in our younger days, lose their charm as we grow older.

Another Disappointing Meeting with an Idol

More than a month ago, I attended TCAF 2015, here in Toronto.

One of my main reasons for attending was the opportunity to meet someone that I thought highly of,

Stuart Immonen.

I have written a couple of pieces for this Blog about him and how much I admire his ability to compose comic book pages.  The chance to tell him, in person, how highly I rated his work, was irresistible and I would be able to get a copy of 

Russian Olive to Red King

hot off the presses!

I was one of the first wave of people onto the convention floor and while the Immonen's were not yet at their table, their publisher was and I promptly bought a copy of the book from him.

While I was chatting with the publisher, having already put my purchase away, the Immonen's arrived and I had the opportunity to "gush" about how much I enjoyed their works.

Then I left their table, to wander the convention and meet 

Hunt Emerson, about whom I will write later.

Quite a while later, in passing the Immonen's table, I noticed that they were both adding their talents to books being bought!

Kathryn was inscribing and Stuart was sketching.

So, I sidled up beside Stuart and said something to the effect that, had I known that he would have been sketching in the book, I would have delayed my purchase...

And he said, "That's the problem with buying too soon."

Or at least, something very similar... and I was floored!

Here was a man that I had admired and spoken to only an hour or so earlier and he was being an ASS.

Considering that I bought the book at his table, from his publisher, I expected at least... "If you are willing to wait in line, I will see if I can fit you in..." or something, but the disdainful dismissal that I received was hurtful and uncalled for.

I have been a steady supporter of Stuart Immonen's work and it pains me to find out that he is not the type of person that I thought he was.

In the end, as little as it is, I can only show my complete disappointment in his conduct towards me, by no longer buying anything he does.  No matter how good it might be or how much better his artwork continues to get.

Thank you, Mr. Immonen, for all the great work that you have done.  I will still pore over those pages, trying to learn from you but I will not buy your wares anymore.

Brian Lewis Cartoonist and Illustrator: The Reptile, House of Hammer #19

Here is another instalment of the ongoing collection

of comic strip work by the late, great Brian Lewis.

Brian would have been 86 this year, had he not died in 1978.

It is a sobering thought, that he was nine years younger than I am now, when he died.

There are a lot of bits and pieces by Brian, that I have copied from the Web and I will continue to put them up but this is the last of the full stories that I have.

Several years ago, I had a short exchange of e-mails with a guy in England who owned two of the original House of Hammer cover paintings.  They had come to him through a market vendor, who believed that the stylized signature said "Lenin" and he advertised them that way!  The owner was half-heartedly trying to sell them but the three thousand pounds ( I seem to remember ) he was asking for them,was far too high for me to consider; sadly.

I wonder where they are today?

Tom Bird Where Are You Now?

T. Bird, T. W. Bird, Tom Bird and finally Thomas Bird are all the ways in which the same artist labelled himself in the 

early 1970's.

There are very few pages of his art out there and what there is can be hard to find.  He contributed to the fourth issue of Promethean Enterprises, The Berkley Con Booklet and Underground Comics too : Spaced Out, Yellow Dog #21, Barbarians #2 and a complete issue of Barbarian Killer Funnies.

Other than those examples, I have no idea of who he was or why, after showing some promise, he simply disappeared from the scene.  The work is competent and well executed, generally of a higher standard than many of the, relatively unknown, cartoonists with whom he shared space in the anthology titles.

It would be interesting to know if he was, as many were at that time, an art school student, or perhaps a working commercial artist who moon-lighted as an underground cartoonist.

In some respects, his contribution to the undergrounds and fanzines of the day, place him in the company of another personal favourite, Robert (Bob) Kline.

The biggest difference is that I know what happened to Bob, he went into animation and earned a living at it.

Here are a couple of samples of T. Bird's art and one or two of Bob Kline's.

Barbarian Killer Funnies

T. Bird

Spaced Out

Front Cover

T. Bird

Spaced Out 

Back Cover

T. Bird

Illustrations for the 

Berkeley Con

Program

RBCC #66 Illustration

Bob Kline

RBCC #78 Cover

Bob Kline

High Adventure 

a Wraparound Cover 

but I could only find this image on-line!

If anyone has any information about the elusive Mr. Bird,

I would be very happy to hear it.

Cartoonist & Illustrator Brian Lewis Quatermass House of Hammer #8 & #9

The Quatermass science fiction stories, written for the BBC in the 1950's were some of the best of their time.

These days, they come across as rather quaint and slightly old fashioned, especially since the central character is such a striking example of a very British ideal; the calm, self-controlled professional.

Brian Lewis did a lovely job of capturing the atmosphere of the original TV series

and managed to pack in all the likenesses of the actors too!

I often wonder where all of the original art for these strips are today, it would be a great shame if they were left to moulder in some forgotten corner.

So, I hope you enjoy this instalment of the Brian Lewis Archives.

Cartoonist & Illustrator Brian Lewis Malvoisin's Mirror

This time, the story is from House of Hammer #6

and while it may be short, it shows the range of Brian's illustrative talents off to good effect.

I was always very taken by the frame that circled the mirror, even more so as an eighteen year old!  Brian always managed to draw women that appealed to me and I would love to know what happened to these original pages.

Someone that I used to know, Dave Holmes of the Magic Labyrinth in Leicester, had a couple of Brian Lewis originals, back in the late Seventies and I always coveted them.  One was of a knight and his betrothed beneath a tree, which I think probably came from an illustrated children's book and the other was one of Brian's Adult Illustrations from an illustrated erotic story.

The knight and his betrothed were fully painted and lovely to look at, the design was almost akin to a stained glass window.

The erotic illustration was in pencil and truly beautiful to behold.  Brian had managed to create an image, that at first glance looked like a crowd surging against the railing in an arena but on closer inspection, proved to be of two women being "taken"from behind, by the men pressed against them.

I wonder if Dave still has them.