R C Harvey & Zero Hero, Part Two

I promised this material, quite a while ago and I kept on failing to get around to it...

Procrastination, is my biggest sin!

Zero Hero the Second Strip

Zero Hero the Third Strip

Zero Hero in RBCC 150th Issue

And there you have it!

R C Harvey was a great cartoonist and I wish he was still making them but those are the breaks and after years of plugging away, one day, he just decided that he had enough and went into writing full time.

Thank you R C for all you gave us.

Invisible Dick

A silly post, every once in a while, is good for the soul.

With that in mind, 

the double entendre of "Invisible Dick",

especially to my old British pals, 

is irresistible. 

Back in the, now, distant past, I lived in Birmingham, England 

and one little known fact, comic book related, 

about Birmingham, is that it was the location of the first ever Comic Convention held in England.

That was 1968 and this was the cover, of one of the publications that they produced for the event.

Drawn by the talented Mik (Mike) Higgs, who, at the time was drawing The Cloak, for the British comic book POW!

Steve Moore and Phil Clarke 

rounded out editorial crew.

Steve was a writer and working at the offices of IPC, down in London, while Phil was a budding comic book dealer and Nostalgia & Comics was still a glint in his eye.

Aspect, was a great little fanzine and was also published by the talented Steve Moore.

Orpheus, which

was essentially Aspect number three, has the distinction of being one of the earliest fanzines that I ever bought.

 I admit, that I bought it because 

Barry (not yet Windsor) Smith, had contributed to it and I was in completely in the thrall of his Conan comics.

I also admired the work of a name with which I was unfamiliar, at the time, Steve Parkhouse.

Strangely, almost 50 years later, I am much happier to have this, early example, of Steve Parkhouse's artwork, than the Barry Smith artwork that is also there.

Steve Parkhouse and Peter Hogan, have, for the last few years, been collaborating on a great little comic book, 

Resident Alien,

over at Dark Horse Comics and it is one of the few titles, being published by anyone, that I will actually order from my local comic book shop.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and it would appear, that the next story arc and mini-series, due in 2019 or 2020, will be their last.

Such a shame and such a great run... if you haven't read it, I can thoroughly recommend it.

Almost Two Weeks Later...

It is absolutely amazing, to me, 

that time, the older I get and the slower that I move, 

seems to be passing a whole lot faster than it did, 

when I was a teenager.

My last post here, was almost two weeks ago and yet, it seems like only yesterday...

Blogging, as a pastime, seems to be losing ground lately and even venerable Blogs, like Lew Stringer's "Blimey!",

are being put on the back burner, by their writers.

I ran across another Blog, this morning, that surprised me with it's short life.

The premise, of an obviously British comic book fan, was the commissioning of artwork, that depicted older and newer, 

British comic book characters, in a single scene.

An interesting idea but it ran out of steam, in less than four years and in two of those years, there was only ONE posting!

Blimey!  To coin a phrase but that writer almost makes my meagre efforts seem prolific.

Moving on.

Anyone, who has taken the time to look through my postings, will know how much I admire the cartooning of 

Paul Grist 

and this one, will comment on one of the things, that he used to do really well... back in the days, when he was a drawing to meet a deadline and tell a story.

One of the tricky things about drawing cartooning, as I well know, is learning the language and iconography of the craft

AND

knowing how and where to apply graphic indicators, like motion lines, speed lines, sweat drops or impact stars!

What I had missed, until fairly recently, was that most of the cartoonists that I admire, whether that is Jack Kirby or Paul Grist, actually use such special effects, sparingly!

For example, in this scene from Jack Staff, Paul Grist has the character of The Spider, hit Jack Staff, across the back of the head, in a violent motion and there isn't one motion line used!

I "thought" that there were motion lines... heck, even in looking at the third panel, I could almost swear that they are there 

BUT THEY ARE NOT.

It has all been shown with relative positions and body language.

The only Special Effect used, are the STARS behind Jack Staff's head, denoting that an impact (the broken off part of the staff, in the hands of The Spider) has occurred!

In a similar vein, in the third panel, on the page below, the use of Sound Effects, "Beep, Beep", add life and perceived movement, to a static scene 

AND

once again, without the use of any motion lines!

I have often speculated, on the similarity between prestidigitation and cartooning because they both require the adept practitioner to make their audience believe they are seeing something that they are not.

Studying the art and craft of cartooning has been my passion for years and years but it is only in the last five years, where I feel as though I am finally understanding things.

Every time I return to 

Scott McCloud's,

Understanding Comics or Making Comics,

I am struck by the realization, that despite reading them, many times, some change in my own perception, allows me to finally grasp what he laid out, in detail, all those years ago.

Welcome to the Future

I am amazed and humbled, to be alive, in a future, that seems just a little bit unreal... I mean to say, aren't we supposed to be attended to by robot servants and zipping around in flying cars?

That was the future that,

The Jetsons,

showed us all living in, back when I was a child.

It was a prediction, based on the all encompassing belief that SCIENCE would save the day

BUT

as we can plainly see, that isn't happening and despite all of the rhetoric, it is unlikely to happen.

A sad statement, on the idiocy of the human race and our ability to delude ourselves, even in the face of calamity.

Ah, well... on a lighter note

I loved Calvin and Hobbes, for the years that it ran and I still do.  I own all of the reprint volumes, except for that amazing and huge, collection that came out in 2012.

Bill Watterson was at the Festival of Cartoon Art, 

way back in 1989 and his speech was a high point of the show. It is still the only occurrence of the Festival, which is now known as the 

CXC, or Cartoon Crossroads Columbus,

that I have ever attended but it was most memorable!

Way back, in the September of 1977, when I first visited Toronto, Ontario, I had no idea, that in three short years, I would be living there.  With that in mind, I spent most of my holiday money at 

The Silver Snail comic emporium

which, at that time, was located at 

321 Queen Street West

and was just over a year old.

One of the best things that I found there, 

was a copy of CPL #12

which had oodles of art by the John Byrne, 

who was making waves in the comic book pool at the time, 

taking over Marvel Comic's flagship title

The X-Men

and combined with Chris Claremont's writing and Terry Austin's inking, made for a memorable run of art and story on that title.

The other day, I was amazed to discover, that someone not only owned the original artwork for that cover but that they had posted it too... for our edification!

I found it interesting, that the price of the issue, was included as part of the artwork and obviously, somewhere between the artwork being made and the publication of the issue, the price had risen!

That explains the staining over the "60 cents", because someone had to letter up an overlay, adjusting the price to 75 cents and stick it down on the artwork.

For me, discovering images like this, is the best part of the future that we live in.  Our ability to share documents has never been easier and I, for one, am grateful for it.

Happy New Year.