Friday, 26 February 2021

Jim Steranko's Rocket Robin Hood Storyboards, for "Escape from Xanador!"

 Many years ago, when we were still acquainted with each other, Ronn Sutton, the artist on Claypool Comics' Elvira, among other things, gave me these photo copies, knowing that they would interest me.


Ronn had been quite close with Jim Steranko and I am guessing, that these either came from him, or were passed along to Ronn by someone who knew them both.


To say that I was surprised, when so many other bits and pieces of paper ephemera are here, on the Web, for Geeks like me, to enjoy and collect, that these are not already available.


I hope, that by posting them, I am providing a service, to the collectors and academics, who find this type of "hidden gem", to be like catnip.


I sincerely hope, that Mister Steranko, sees it in that light and doesn't take exception, to these images being disseminated.


So, without further ado, I present "Escape from Xanador!"....some fifty years after they were drawn.


(The first eleven images were reduced, in the original photo copying.) 














These last two frames, are 'size as' and give an idea of the scale, that Jim Steranko, was working at.




Tuesday, 16 February 2021

Now and Then Books, 26th Anniversary Flyer

 Time flies and it really doesn't seem that long ago but it was 1997 and Harry Kremer was celebrating the 26th anniversary of his fantastic comic book emporium.



Unfortunately, it has been a very long time and I am sorry to say, that I really don't recall much about the event.  At the time, I was not really paying attention, to the comic books being published by the special guests.


It took me a while, a long while to discover what Mark Oakly and Tara Jenkins were doing...and while I remember Lethargic Lad, vaguely, I am still ignorant of what Greg Hyland's comic book was about.


Harry Kremer was a very special guy and while we all knew he was dealing with health issues, it was still a shock, when I learned from Tim Simms, the proprietor of Worlds Collide, in Oshawa, that Harry had died.


That was 2002...eighteen years ago!  It doesn't seem possible.