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".

Even More Silver Snail Posters

I ended my last posting with the 32nd Anniversary poster

and as luck would have it, I have an image of the

 33rd Anniversary Poster,

by the very talented Paul Rivoche,

to begin this posting with.

For some reason, I cannot locate a 34th Anniversary Poster 

and I cannot be sure that one was even made.

Think about it, that would have been the 2011 edition 

and the Silver Snail had bigger fish to fry, namely 

finding a new location!

Not only that but it was also the year that Mark Gingras and George Zotti, bought out the original owner, Ron Van Leeuwen. 

Turbulent times indeed.

The 35th Anniversary Poster,

 strangely, still carries the old street address, 

367 Queen Street West, 

despite the fact that, around that time, 

the store relocated to it's present location at 329 Yonge Street.

It was from the talented hand of Kalman Andrasofszky. 

The 36th Anniversary Poster, 

which I also don't have a copy of but fortunately, 

the Silver Snail has on their web pages,

 was commissioned from the talented 

Phil Noto.

It is also the first poster to display the new address.

The 37th Anniversary Poster, 

was commissioned from the artist

Skottie Young, 

who was continuing to make his mark, on the comic book world, in 2013.

The 38th Anniversary Poster, 

was commissioned from the exceptionally talented illustrator, 

Dave Johnson.

I love the whimsical way that he transformed the robot mascot, Bobo, into a scurrying cartoonist, spilling pages of artwork, from his portfolio.

A fitting image for 2014.

Bear with me, because we are almost to the end of our journey; at least, as far as we can go, at the moment!

The 39th Anniversary Poster, 

was commissioned from 

Francesco Francavilla, 

who turned in a lovely "duet", 

featuring his character, The Black Beetle.

So ends 2015.

For the 40th Anniversary Poster, 

it is perhaps fitting, that the commission went to a Canadian artist, 

Cary Nord.

Summer of 2016.

I happen to think that this is one of the best, possibly because, to me, it harkens back to the earlier examples and Ken Steacy's 

illustrations of the Bobo robot character.

So, there you have it.  We are rapidly coming to the end of another year and that means, provided the venerable Silver Snail remains viable, the chance of another Anniversary Poster!

We wait, with bated breath, to see who will do the art for it.

More Silver Snail Posters

I closed out my last posting, with the 1992

Anniversary Poster.

The mid-Ninties were a turbulent time, for me 

and I lost touch with the store, 

missing out on several Anniversaries

and their accompanying posters.

So, please forgive me if I am mistaken but I think,

given that there are no identifying Anniversary logos,

or even a date, that this poster,

may have been the stores 20th.

It was commissioned from an artist named

Peter Moehrle,

who was visiting Toronto and working

in the animation field,

when he met Ron Van Leeuwen, the store's owner.

It is an unusual poster

because the artist was not a

Torontonian, nor was he an established member of the

professional Comic Book artist fraternity.

So, in 1999, I reconnected with the Snail

and picked up a copy of the

Ron Boyd

Anniversary Poster

clearly marked as the 23rd issue.

Ron Boyd was a Toronto based artist,

at the time and he was inking Stuart Immonen's

pencils, on the Legion of Super Heroes,

for DC Comics.

Ron was also a regular customer of the Silver Snail,

which probably led, I am assuming,  to his selection as the artist for this poster.

I missed another couple of Anniversaries, for diverse reasons

and I do not own a copy of the Dave McKean Poster,

that was commissioned for the stores 25th.

This image is borrowed from the Silver Snails photo page.

I am willing to bet, that it is quite a collector's item these days.

I was still missing-in-action at the Snail and time marched on.

The next poster that I own,

was drawn by

Jeff Smith

of Bone fame and it marked the stores 26th.

The next Anniversary Poster that I could find,

was drawn by

Anthony Van Bruggen,

another old customer and a talented artist,

for the stores 29th.

Once again, I don't have a copy of this poster and

this image is borrowed from the

Silver Snail's photo page.

 

This is where my renewed association,

with the Silver Snail,

seems to have taken hold, because I have copies of the next few posters.  Beginning with this beauty,

by the incomparable,

Mike Mignola.

Which marked the stores 30th!

Adam Hughes, the Mega-Star artist,

drew this absolutely stunning image, 

which, so I was told, Ron Van Leeuwen, failed to purchase!

The reason being, that Adam Hughes' artwork, sells very quickly and by the time Ron had seen the art and decided to buy it, it was already sold to someone else.

What a way to celebrate the store's 31st!

The next artist, was not only a hot commodity, but was also Canadian!

Steve McNiven

the artist on Marvel Comics',

"Old Man Logan",

among a host of other great comic books,

turned in this spectacular poster.

Which marked the stores 32nd Anniversary.

That was in 2008, so we are rapidly approaching the store's change of ownership and it's moving into a new location.

We'll cover that next time.