Christmas Past, Present & Future

Christmas time is always, at least for me, a time of reflection and this year is no different.

I have spent the last fifty four years, on and off, being fascinated by art and cartooning.  In the main, it has been comic strips and comic books that have held me in thrall, much to the dismay of my mother!

Well, it would have been, except for a sidebar to the collecting mania, record keeping.  My handwriting had always been atrocious and because I wanted my lists of acquisitions to look smart... I tried, very hard, to write the lists well and that was seen, by my mum, as a positive thing.

I have been an amateur cartoonist for almost as long as I have been a collector.

The "magic" of three dimensional drawing and discovering that my father knew how to work that magic... and then disappointed me by demonstrating.  But all he did was draw lines on paper!

Aaargh!

I don't know what I truly expected but the mundanity of that box, drawn with lines receding to a horizon line, wasn't it!

It wasn't magic!

However, I also, never forgot that first lesson and I have built upon it, often far too slowly, ever since.

One of the cartoonists I have seen lately, who has impressed me and made the climb from inspired amateur into the ranks of the paid professionals, is

Jay Fosgitt.

I love the way he manages to do what I have always dreamed of doing, drawing engaging comic strips and doing it so well!

Even the lettering is crisp, clean and cartoony... 

Maybe, once, before I check out from this life, I will manage to do it too.  Who knows?

Thank you and good night!

Christmas is Coming

In general, it seems to me, that time is passing by a whole lot quicker than it ever used to!

The whole idea, that time hangs heavily for retired people is BUNK, at least in my case.  At the end of most days, I would like to request an extension to my day, except that I am already bushed and ready for my bed.

There is always more of interest, than I have the time and the energy to pursue and I end up portioning out my days, just to fit in a little bit of everything.

If you are retired and unhappy about that fact, then I am sorry for you.  A long time ago, a wise woman, who I later married, said, "If life isn't worth living it must be the live-er!", and she was right.

There have been a lot of people, some of whom I have known, who never got the chance to be as old as I am now and despite the occasional aches, pains and needing to wear glasses, I am thankful to still be around.

Merry Christmas to you all, whoever you are!

Vaughn Bode and the Detroit Triple Fan Fair

It is hard to be sure, but from the signature, this appears to be a Vaughn Bode sketch, of his trade marked Lizards in Nazi uniforms.

I just discovered it on the Blog,

"Cap'n's Comics"

http://capnscomics.blogspot.ca

I am still, despite the passage of the years, really angry about all of the comments and comic strips that Vaughn Bode never got to say or to draw.

In the intervening forty plus years, since his untimely death, I have met people who actually knew Vaughn, warts and all and at least one of them, thought that Vaughn was a self absorbed ego maniac.

Regardless, I still remember laughing myself hoarse, over the antics of Cheech Wizard, in the pages of The National Lampoon and I wish that there had been many more of them.

It is hard to believe that Mark Bode, Vaughn's son, is now twenty years older than his father ever got to be!

Nigel & Nostalgia and Comics

I met Phil Clarke through Pete Lennon and Carl Brooks, a while before Phil got around to opening his shop,

Nostalgia & Comics

in a kiosk, in the now long gone, Hurst Street Subway, in downtown Birmingham, U.K.

I bought my comics from Phil, right up until I left Birmingham and the U.K., in 1980.

It has always been a pleasure for me, to see that the store Phil founded, is still in operation, even though Phil sold out his interest in the business, a long time ago.

This past weekend, my old pal Nigel, dropped by the old store (he still lives in the area) and was kind enough to send me a photograph of one of their latest shopping bags.

It is the little things in life, that can mean so much and this was a touching gesture because there is no way that I will be getting one for myself!

As I said to Nigel, when I thanked him, it is the ephemeral stuff, the flyers, adverts, bags and badges, that often fall through the cracks of our lives because we always seem to think that they are unworthy of collecting.

In the final analysis though, it is often these things that stay resident in memory and niggle at the edges of our brains, making us wonder if they ever actually existed.  That is part of the reason why I write this Blog, to commemorate the passing parade of my collecting life.

Jim Lee Tutorials

I am guilty of having paid very little attention to Jim Lee and his contribution to the world of Comic Books.

At least, since the early Nineties and the first few issues of his Wildcats, as Image Comics burst onto the scene.

In the intervening years, I did occasionally pick up some series that he worked on but the "shine had gone off the gingerbread", for me and while I appreciated his ability to turn out good looking comic books, I was no longer drawn to his artwork.

Then, on the advice of a friend, I searched out some videos, on Youtube, where Jim explains how he draws things and I was enthralled by his easy manner and his "down to earth" approach to making comic book art.

It was a revelation!

Nothing, I hasten to say, that he says, in the course of his tutorials, all filmed, over several years, at the San Diego Comic Con, is in any way, revolutionary or magical and that is what is GREAT!

I have been teaching myself to cartoon for almost as long as I can recall, not always successfully but I found several valuable gems of information in his explanations.

After fifty years of buying How to Draw books and studying the works of the professionals in the business, I was amazed to learn new and easily applied techniques, that immediately improved my drawings.

It was interesting to discover that one of his earliest sources on how to improve his drawing skills, came from the books of George Bridgeman.

There are several books, about drawing individual parts of the human figure and at least one compiled edition.  Bridgeman died in 1943, after a long career as an art teacher and while the images now look a little bit dated, the information is still first rate.

So, thank you, Jim Lee, for sharing your hard won knowledge with me and the rest of the world.

Dave Gibbons & How Comics Work

A new book arrived at The Labyrinth, here in Toronto, last Wednesday and it was one that I had been looking forward to checking out.

Dave Gibbons is an artist, who's work I have grown up with and I was eager to see what gems of information, he was going to impart.

Comic books and the techniques that make the cartoons on their pages, read like mini movies, are catnip to me.

On the plus side, the book turned out to be a very lucid look at all of the techniques employed by a comic book artist 

BUT

it was all rather flat and rather shallow.

Granted, that a book on the subject, that covered every aspect of cartooning, would be huge and quite possibly too deep for the average student in the class

BUT

I would have loved to have seen a few in-depth tutorials, where Dave Gibbons walked us through his approach to designing pages and panels.

I am not trying to run the book down, or say that it isn't worth the money that I paid for it, I am just giving my opinion on it.  I have most of the "How to Make Comic Books" books, that have been published over the years and they all have valuable things to teach a willing student.

Way back, in the mid-Seventies, Dave Gibbons contributed this cover to Dez Skinn's Fantasy Advertiser International #54

It has been a long and illustrious career, during which, Dave has made his own, significant, contribution to the medium and I salute him, whole heartedly, for all his hard work and the way it has enriched my life.

Chris Baker Memories

A long time ago, in a land far, far away, 

there was a Science Fiction bookshop called Andromeda 

and it was a hub, mainly because of Dave Holmes but 

not entirely, for the local fans of the fantastic.

One of those fans, was the young and very talented, 

Chris Baker, who quickly took to signing his artwork

as Fangorn.

One of the things that he turned his hand to, 

while he was attending Bournville Art College,

was etching, on thin metal sheets, that were covered with a layer of black paint.

The one example, that I remember well, was a copy 

of this beautiful painting, by Bernie Wrightson.

I wish that I had a copy, of Chris' copy, 

to share but as far as I know, it is probably still 

in a pile of Dave Holmes old stuff and 

is lost to the world.

Mister Baker, went on to have a successful career, as an illustrator and then later, as a designer/storyboard artist, 

working on some major Hollywood films.

Congratulations, Chris, you made your dreams come true.  

Old Silver Snail & Brian Morton

I ran across this scan of an old newspaper photograph,

which shows the very much younger, Brian Morton.

If I am guessing correctly,

because there was not any date, associated with the image,

it was taken after 1985 and before 1989.

He really hasn't changed a lot, over the years, 

he just thickened up a bit and these days, 

except that he has more hair, 

he always makes me feel as though I am in the presence of 

"The Kingpin",

of Marvel Comics fame.

On a different topic, I had forgotten about the old checkerboard, black an white tiled floors, that were a part of the Silver Snail's ambience! 

What I wouldn't give, for the chance to go back to when the photograph was taken and change a few decisions! LOL

Silver Snail Hamilton Opening

Here is an advert, rediscovered in the centre pages of Bill Marks flagship publication, Vortex, number four.

Vortex #4, is dated for July of 1983,

so that is as close as I am likely to get, to the moment of the Hamilton location's birth.

The years have sort of mashed everything together, in my head and I wouldn't have been able to say exactly when Ron opened the Hamilton branch of the Snail.  It came as a surprise, when I realized that it fell in the same year as the move of the Toronto store, from 323 to 367 Queen Street West.

At that time, Andromeda, the distribution side of Ron's small empire, was beginning to make more money than the Silver Snail was and Ron had moved into a CEO role, over both companies, with Mark Askwith becoming the manager of the Toronto store.

Ken Steacy did a beautiful job of designing the mascot, eventually christened "Bobo", by Rob Walton, and the image in the lower right corner of the advert, was, in my opinion, one of the best ever used on the store's bags.

Only one more thing to add.

The original painting, by Paul Rivoche, that is shown on the left hand side of the advert, was hanging in the cafe section of the New Silver Snail and I had made a gentle enquiry, over a year ago, as to whether the new owners were interested in selling it.

They never did get back to me and I noticed, two weeks ago, that the space on the wall, where it had once hung, was now vacant.  I am guessing that either someone stole it, or that they received a more forceful offer and sold it.

Whatever.

Silver Snail 1979?

The other day,

while I was casting about on Facebook,

I ran across this photograph.

Tom Stormonth, Ron Van Leeuwen, Mark Askwith and Carlos Outside The Silver Snail at 323 Queen St West in 1979 by Robert Myres

Personally, I would take issue with Robert's memory about when this was taken.  If only for the fact, that I have no memory of Mark Askwith, in connection with the store, until after they moved to 

367 Queen Street West, in 1983.

That was when Mark became the manager and Ron, while still overseeing the store, ran Andromeda Publications, the distribution part of his empire.

So, to clarify my thoughts about the photograph, I am fairly sure that this was probably taken in late 1982 or early 1983.

Does anyone else have a better guess?

Incidentally, Ken Steacy, one of the original, "fan turned pro", frequenters of The Snail, had this to say about the location:

"Were we ever this young?  Right upstairs (above the store) was MARS & CO, a studio that was occupied by Dean Motter, John Allison, Paul Rivoche, Ken Steacy, Cullen and Oueltte.

At the time, we used a local courier service, called Rabbit and we loved to call them up, just to ask,

 "Can you send a Rabbit to MARS?"

We were all, so much younger then.  The days seemed longer and the future seemed brighter.

Sketches & Things

The image below, came as a surprise to me because I had never asked a simple question : where did Larry Mahlstedt

suddenly appear from, when he became Keith Giffen's

favourite inker?

The short answer is, that he was a student at the short lived John Buscema Art School.

It is interesting to see that while Bob Hall also got a showcase moment, on the page (from an issue of FOOM)

another name is missing...

Tim Sale!

Arguably, Tim Sale is probably the highest profile, comic book artist, to have attended the John Buscema Art School

and yet, he wasn't one of the selected few, for this page.

I am now going to indulge myself and add a couple of pages of my own doodles.

These are pretty typical of the type of thing that I do and I have covered a lot of paper in this way.

Just exactly what I am accomplishing, is a moot point and while there are a number of ideas and characters, that I return to, time and again, there is nothing remotely complete.

"Dead Guy", the one with a hole right through him, was an attempt at zombie humour and he has cropped up in my sketches, many times, as has the robotic nutcase "539",

who is seen here, teasing him.

On a different topic, a long time ago but not very far away, there was a comic shop, Beaver Comics, in Barrie, Ontario and it was run by a man who had a passion for Gene Day's art. 

I remember his display, at a convention in the early Eighties, where he was selling a lot of Gene Day originals, not long after Gene had died.

Anyway, I had looked for information about him and his old store because he too, had died, in the early Nineties.

I never had any luck and then, on an unrelated search, I found this:

and it made my day!

Finally, here is an unusual item from the mid-Seventies.

A Barry Smith, predating his addition of the "Windsor", 

and an unused cover for Marvel Comics, The Tomb of Dracula.

Jim Steranko is a Publisher's Nightmare!

Jim Steranko,

what an amazing legacy to leave behind.

There is absolutely no doubt, that he is one of the people who changed the face of comic book art.

 But these days, he is the equivalent of a human roadblock, to any publishing venture, insane enough to work with him!

The second volume, of his IDW sponsored, Artists Editions, has been pushed back, yet again, to December 2017.

Considering that the youngest pages of art, being reproduced in this volume, are almost 50 years old... one can only wonder at the holdup and attribute it to Steranko's involvement in the "design" of the book.

As Scott Dunbier says, we were actually very lucky, to get even one volume of his old works, into print!

It is my belief, that in keeping with several other Steranko projects, this volume will never see the light of day... or, if it does, 

it will be published as a commemorative, after Steranko's demise.

Tangents in Comic Book Art

Tangents, in adjacent comic book panels, can often cause unintended confusion as this educational comic strip,

by Brandon Graham and Adam Warren,

clearly shows.

As a student of all things comic book art related, 

I found this to be a succinct encapsulation of the issue.

Brandon Graham and Adam Warren are both very talented guys and it is enlightening to see them argue the point out.

I am in awe of the minds behind the hands and the amount of craft that went into this, essentially, "throw-away", page of art instruction!

The Silver Snail at 41 Years Old!

The Silver Snail

41st Anniversary Poster

What can I say?

For me, this has to be one of the weakest and oddest images,

that the store has ever used to try and promote it's self.

Looking back over the previous examples,

there is a distinct disconnect, from the often Science Fiction themed

images, of many of it's predecessors.

Intentionally or not, the Horror or Vampire theme, strikes the wrong chord, in my opinion because I have never really associated The Silver Snail with a Horror vibe!

Maybe I am simply showing my age and spouting off, like the old geezer that I am because, at the end of the day, truthfully, the fact that the store still exists, is amazing.

Congratulations and I hope that you guys get to survive another year but with our insane, Toronto commercial space rents,

 who knows?

The First Silver Snail Anniversary Poster

It has been a while and I apologize for being a tardy Blogger.

While looking for other things, the other day,

I happened upon a real treat!

George Zotti, the long time toiler in and 

sometime owner of,  the venerable, 

Silver Snail

comic book emporium,

had posted this image.

It is the truly amazing, what might be found, 

in the catacombs of an old comic book shop and George rediscovered this.

My first visit to "The Snail",

was in the September of 1977 and while I was there,

Ron, the owner, introduced me to Franc Reyes, the artist who's work graced the poster.

Franc Reyes was living in Toronto at that time but later moved to Los Angeles, I believe and joined the workers in the animation industry.

It seems to me, my memory being what it is, that a few years ago, 

Franc Reyes self published a sketchbook but I cannot seem to find any mention of it, anywhere.

This one is for Ron Van Leeuwen, without whom, we would not have had the wonderful world of "The Snail".