Stuart Immonen Draws a Comic Book Panel

 One of my personal recommendations, to any aspiring Comic Book artist, is that along with studying the old masters of the form, like Joe Kubert, Alex Toth and Will Eisner, it would also be beneficial, to study the work of Stuart Immonen.

Stuart managed to alienate me, a couple of years ago, with a very unnerving and brusque response to something I said to him but that doesn't stop me from admiring his skills as a graphic storyteller.

This example, in a step by step mode, I discovered, posted by someone else, just the other day but the good stuff, deserves to be re posted and this is definitely, good stuff.

Stuart has been a solid comic book professional, for around thirty odd years and the fact the ha has "stepped back" from the drawing table, in the last couple of years, is a shame.

I really enjoyed his short series, written by Mark Millar, Empress but it was over too soon.

The last book that Stuart worked on, was Plunge, written by Joe Hill.  Horror styled stories, while I have enjoyed a few, are not really my thing and while I bought the series and read it, I was less than overawed by it.

I wait, with anticipation, to see what he will do next.

Gino D'Achille and Yvonne De Carlo

 When I was around 17 years old, I read a slew of the Gor books, written by John Norman.

Back then, I don't remember if he was already a target, of the Women's Liberation movement and truthfully, I wouldn't have cared but when I tried to reread one of the books, a couple of years ago, I was appalled at my younger self's acceptance of some of the sexist subject matter.

When I was 17 and still a virgin, the idea of being a dominant macho man, manhandling beautiful women, had a certain appeal but as an older man, who has lived in the world, I found the explicit idea, that women were like paper tissues, to be used and discarded, to be repugnant and I just about threw the book across the room! LOL

That being said, John Norman was Lucky enough to have his book covers illustrated by some very fine artists and they made the books look fantastic and readable.

One of those artists, was the late Gino D'Achille and he painted this cover.  Which only goes to prove that good works of art, start with good reference images!

Which, as I discovered, was based on one of the movie stills, used to advertise the British Movie, of 1951, Hotel Sahara and showed off the fantastic body of the young Yvonne De Carlo.

A few years later on, Yvonne would become better known for her role of Lily Munster, on the TV show "The Munsters".

Jeff Jones and his Iguana

 I remember this cover of Nightmare and I always thought that the "attitude" or pose, of the flying Dragon/Lizard, was a bit off 

What I didn't know, was that Jeff Jones had an Iguana, for at least, long enough to use it as a reference, when he painted this cover.

The Internet, is a boon to a comic book/Illustration geek, like me!

Michael Golden aka The Reclusive One, Talking About Comic Book Making

 In the back pages, of three out of the four, Image Comics issues of Michael Golden's, SpartanX, the man himself put these pages, about  his approach to making comic books.

Starting with SpartanX Issue #2

Then SpartanX, Issue 3

And finally, SpartanX, issue 4

Truthfully, I was, upon searching the Net for any trace of these pages, surprised that they were nowhere to be found...hopefully, this will be a help to any students of the art form.

And also, hopefully, the Master, Mister Golden, will not be displeased by this post.

Robert Fawcett Art Books

 These are not very many Robert Fawcett books, either by him or about him and here they are.

The first one, would have to be, "How I Make a Picture", written for the Fantastic Artists, Advanced Course binder.  Published in 1949, it is quite the collectors item and in a perfect, complete state, it commands a good price...$600 USD.

This is my copy, which is missing a couple of full colour prints, a fold out reproduction of a tracing paper sketch and one of the course pages...but it also cost me a whole lot less than $600!

It is a phenomenal look, into the mind behind the artwork and the thought process behind their creation.  Having read it, finally, I am convinced that the comic book artist Alex Toth, had to have read it and been severely affected by it...to the point, of changing his approach to drawing; eschewing complexity and fine detail, in favour of simplicity and directness.

I can thoroughly recommend any and all of the publications, from the Two Morrows publishing empire, as they are all uniformly excellent.

(1958)

I bought this at the Dragon Lady, for the princely sum of $30, years and years ago, when they were down on Queen Street West and it has been with me ever since.  It is as oddly philosophical, as the binder he wrote for the Famous Artists course, which he wrote almost ten years earlier.

It was also, as far as I remember, the first "Stolen from the library of Fred G. Ivory", used book and as the years rolled by, I have accumulated a few more.  I always wondered who F. G. Ivory was and just today, I think I finally tracked him down.

The facts all fit, as does his age, at the point that the Fawcett book was was published.  There is a file card, in between the pages, that has the date 1960 written on it and Fred's notations, about passages in the book, that he thought were important.  I always thought, that he had to be in the graphics field, or an artist, based on his buying the book...so to discover that Fred was a commercial artist and a silk screener, is wonderful!

(1980)

This one, came through the mail, ordered from Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr. and Bud Plant Illustrated Books.  Some time around 1990, I think, because by 1995 or so, I had stopped buying stuff from them…with a couple of exceptions…because the Canadian Customs Men began levying duty on anything coming in from America!

(2010)

This one, is a great book and Manuel Auad has published some beauties in his time!

I cannot believe that it has been ten years since it was published, it still seems like a brand NEW book to me! LOL

It ha also appreciated in price, significantly, since 2010 and what was a $60 book, is now being offered for anywhere between $280 (used) and $1800 (new)…I kid you not!

The Changes in My Collecting Habit.

 As we rush toward the end of September, in this rather insane year, that it has been dominated and disrupted, by the Great Covid-19 Pandemic...or whatever history will record it as, I am amazed, by how relatively normal all of the changes, socially and economically, have become.

My particular pleasure, stretching back almost 50 years, has been a deep and abiding interest in comic books and how they are created.  With all the problems, that Covid-19 has thrown into our paths, it is fantastic, that the disruption, to the weekly "New Comic Book Day", was so short lived.

My interest, in the regular comic book titles of my youth, left me long ago and for the last few years, my collecting has been spotty, at best but somehow, incrementally, my library has continued to grow.

  These days, it is mainly books and magazines, that either concentrate on the history, of our great shared passion, or on the nuts and bolts of how comic books are created...with just the occasional, actual comic book, to keep the dream alive!

Here are a few of the things, that I have bought recently and in the case of the comic book "floppies", they are, by and large, from limited runs and series.

I can heartily recommend, any of the titles you see here and I hope that someone, somewhere will try one or two of them out and see if they like them, too.

These last covers, are for yet to arrive books but they fit the parameters and so, I include them here.  The Adam Hughes, Hellboy One-Shot, was announced at the end of 2019 and if we are lucky, it will actually appear at the end of 2020

and the Steve Parkhouse drawn, Peter Hogan written, Resident Alien series of limited series, of which this is the latest incarnation, has been a joy to read since the very first issue.

I am looking forward to seeing what the new series has in store.

Some New Acquisitions

 With the changes that the Covid-19 Hysteria has imposed upon us all, my regular schedule, of Wednesday/New Comic Book Day, trips into Toronto, came to an end.

After almost 45 years, of buying comic books on a weekly cycle, most of the time, this disease has managed to change everything.  My new regime, once the restrictions allowed it, has been to go into see Dobi, at Thunderstruck Books and the Bloor Street BMV, once a month.

On my last trip, two of the items I bought were:

Back in 2012, I looked through the signed and limited hardback edition of Naughty and Nice and in my stupidity, I passed on it!  It was $100 and I thought that I would think about it, for a week and see it the next week... but it flew off the shelf and I never saw it again.

Later on, I paid $95 to Dan, the then owner of the Toronto book store, The Labyrinth, for a paperback edition!

That is part of the reason why, when this new Bruce Timm book was scheduled to arrive, I made sure to ORDER a copy! LOL

On my last trip, a month ago, I bought the first two issues of the comic book series, of this title and I enjoyed them!

So, I asked Dobi about the "Prelude" graphic novel, that came out first and she still had a copy of it...and now I own it!  Chris Samnee is a new favourite and his work reminds me of the "old guys" who originated the form.  Oh, yeah! I also bought the third issue of the comic book, too.

One other thing, worth mentioning, is the new story arc of Black Magick.  It is a series that I have enjoyed, from the first issue and the fact that the creative team, have published it, in story arcs, whenever they have five issues in the can, has been an awkward but a workable solution.

As awkward as it has been, trying to stay aware of where and when, the next series of issues would be appearing...at least they are still appearing.  In this modern age, when comic books can just stop, in mid storyline, with no explanation and never come back, the fact that a quality book, like this one, is still chugging along, is nothing short of a miracle! LOL

An Old Richard Corben, Tribute to Conan, Tarzan and Prince Valiant

 Way back, when we were all a whole lot younger, the great Richard Corben, drew this great page for the Squa Tront fanzine:

It appeared in the fourth issue, in 1967 and it is still a joy to look at today.

I am a very weird guy, I know that, in as much as I absolutely love the earlier works, of most of the artists that I have admired, over the years and in most cases, those same artists, continued to evolve...until I was no longer interested in them!

The list is a long one and I won't bore you with it, but John Byrne, Neal Adams and Richard Corben, are on it! LOL

John Byrne & Neal Adams at Forbidden Planet, London, in 1979

 When I was rereading my collection, of John Byrne drawn issues, of Marvel's The X-Men, just yesterday...after a long, long time, hidden behind my copy of issue #125, I found these advertising flyers:

After all these years, my biggest question is, why on earth did I let such an opportunity, to meet John Byrne especially, slip through my fingers...not to mention the chance to buy his original artwork!

At that moment in time, John Byrne was about as HOT as a comic book artist ever gets to be and he was most definitely a favourite of mine.  So WHY didn't I make the effort?

H0lyhandgrenade and her Comic Book Making Advice

 H0lyhandgrenade, is a British artist and she has posted several pieces of advice, about her own feelings of what makes a good comic book page.

H0lyhandgrenade

Some of what she has to say, is her own personal preferences and as with all good advice, if it doesn't suit you, don't follow it but all information, especially from someone, who has drawn as many pages of sequential artwork as she has, has to be worth checking out.

Chipperwhale and Things I've Learned in Comics

 Chipperwhale, whoever you might be, I found this page of advice, about the practical aspects of drawing a comic book page, out there, on the Net and it seemed to be too good, not to repost.

In one page, this is one of the best, simplified approaches, to helping a budding cartoonist, to get a grip of what works and what doesn't.

It is only one cartoonists point of view and as with most things, there is always more than one way to reach your goal.

IDW Artifact Editions

 One of the best ideas, in the world of publishing, has been IDW's Artist Editions and their companion, Artifact Editions.

I have quite a number of them and I began with The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens.  At first, every new book was so amazing, that I bought them as they were published but as the price rose (as a Canadian, I pay more because of the strength of the American Dollar) with almost every new book, I became more selective.

Recently, with my pocket money piling up, because of the restrictions that the present Covid-19 situation has forced upon us, I decided to splurge and so, I bought the second printing of the Bernie Wrightson, Artifact Edition.

Like a fool, I passed on this, absolutely beautiful, collection of Wrightson artwork, when it was first published but that's okay because I was lucky enough to find a copy, of the 2nd printing, in a local store.

Dobi, the owner/operator of Toronto's own Thunderstruck Books, still had one and was happy to sell it to me.  I think I made her day a little bit brighter, in this Covid depressed economy, because I also bought this Artifact Edition:

Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont's rebooting of Marvel Comics, The X-Men, was a major event and I well remember the excitement, of buying those issues as they appeared.  I missed out on a copy of the Giant Sized X-Men #1 (which I finally bought as a reprint, in the early Eighties) but starting with issue #94, I was a huge fan.

This Artifact Edition, is like time travelling and it is a total pleasure, to go back to being 18 years old, even if only in my mind!  Thank you, IDW for being the publisher, of some of the most amazing comic artwork books, that the world has ever seen.

I highly recommend both of these volumes, to any student of comic book art, like me, or to anyone, who was a comic book collector in the Seventies because they are well worth owning.

More Cartoon Investigations from Chris

Adding to the last post, 

here are a few more of my investigations 

into the techniques and principles of 

drawing cartoons.

I have no doubt, that most of what I have written, here and elsewhere, will seem very simple, if not obvious, to people with a larger brain and a quicker mind, than I posses but this type of investigating, makes me happy and fulfulled.

That is why I continue to do it! LOL