Linda Lessmann and Barry Smith

When the young Barry Smith, 

walked away from his burgeoning comic book career 

in the mid-Seventies and 

set up shop as, 

The Gorblimey Press,

his partner in crime, was his girlfriend 

Linda Lessmann 

who was a colourist and had also worked for Marvel Comics.

Linda, as she looked in the Mid-Seventies.

Barry's art was the engine that drove the business but Linda was the person who made it all work, by doing everything else that needed to be done and allowing Barry to concentrate on making art.

The face of the angel, in this Christmas Card illustration, drawn by Barry Smith in 1977, does seem to have been modelled on the young and beautiful, Miss Lessmann.

The relationship with Barry Windsor-Smith (as he became known) faltered and failed, after eleven years 

and Linda moved on with her life.

The Mid-Eighties found her working for the 

young upstarts at First Comics 

and there she met Bill Reinhold, a penciller, 

who was also doing work for First Comics.

They married in 1987 and are still together, to this day.

Interestingly, their children, a boy and a girl, are both musicians who perform on stage, with their respective bands.

Nostalgia runs deep and for me and many like me, the founding of The Gorblimey Press 

and the prints that they released 

was a defining moment.

I would like to thank Barry and Linda for making my teenaged years brighter and for all the enjoyment that I got from looking at those amazing images.

I couldn't afford them, when they were published but I have been fortunate enough to gather up a number of them, over the intervening forty odd years and they are very coveted possessions 

to this day.

I have a framed and signed, although the ball-point ink has faded on the signature, print of 

Pandora (1975) 

and it has pride of place, on the wall of my studio.

It had not occurred to me before but it is highly possible that the figure of Pandora was modelled on the young 

Linda Lessmann too!

Linda Lessmann & Diane Pitre Stevens

at the New York Comic Con of 1976

Judging by her chin, in the photograph and the chin Barry gave to Pandora, I would say that it is a given, that Linda is the model.

Jeff Jones' Blind Narcissus Painting

Here is the strange case of Diane Pitre Stevens and her connection to the reasonably famous painting, by the late Jeff Jones, entitled Blind Narcissus.

I have not found any supporting evidence, other than the image above, where she is shown, similarly posed, in front of a copy of the painting, done as a mural

BUT

Diane uses the portrait part of the painting, as a banner,  on her Facebook page and she does bear a resemblance to the girl in the painting.

On top of which, some of the people in her Facebook friends list, are people who were in the mix at Marvel Comics and Neal Adams' Continuity Studio, during the mid-Seventies.

Diane is the girl on the left, in this photograph from that time period.

So, at the very least, it is a possibility.

It would be interesting to know for sure and perhaps Jeff's ex-wife, Louise, who has been married to Walt Simonson for the last 

thirty eight years, might know

but this is just idle speculation and I have no wish to annoy, or disturb anyone, over it.

I think that it is her nose, that has a very distinctive shape, that is the most compelling visual clue but whatever the truth of the matter, the painting is a classic.

Thank you Jeff, for filling my young mind with flights of fantasy and inspiring me, to try and draw as well as you did.  

Growing Old and Grey

We all grow older, it is, for the moment anyway, one of the universal constants

but

the downside to growing older, is that age tends to rob us, of all the things that once made life worth living...

I was unfortunate and my testosterone factory started to fail, at the relatively young age of 38 and pretty much closed it's doors, by the time I was 48

and yes, it was devastating but it was only likely to be life threatening, if I let the depression that accompanied the collapse of my sex life, drive me to suicide.

Well, I crossed that particular bridge a long time ago and I embraced then, a concept that I believe comes from the Buddhist 

Faith, the idea that if one can stand on the lip of the abyss, toes curled over the edge and stare into the depths, without fear, one can survive anything.

And I have survived.

The latest indignity, is being unable to sleep for more than two hours at a time, because I need to urinate, even when I can barely squeeze any urine out!

So, the chances are, my prostate is enlarged, hopefully in a benign way and that is just a little bit scary, because my paternal grandfather actually died from prostate cancer.

A great wit once opined that, Life Sucks and then You Die.

It is a very good line and the best part of it, in my opinion, is the promise of the final exit.

I am not afraid of dying, although the cause of my death, of which there is no guarantee and it could be messy, does cause me some nervousness.

However, while I am still here, I will try and remain interested and hopefully interesting.  We'll see how it goes.

It has nothing to do with the foregoing but I am a huge Paul Grist fan and I am going to close with a thought about him.

Paul Grist, UKCAC 1989

Paul Grist has been Missing in Action, for far too long and I really hope that he publishes something personal, this year.