Below, a striking cover courtesy of Eddie Campbell and… I want to say Phil Elliott colored it? Either way (someone correct me if necessary), it’s a vibrant cover which reads from across the room. This is the type of thing I look at more often than not, the type of thing I don’t mind procrastinating for, things of beauty, things of immediate influence.
Thank you, Deadface.
I M M E D I A T E L Y
I’ll be brief about it, but we’ll see how it goes. The first time I did this, I veered toward a specific corner of comics. It’s pretty random this time around, which speaks more to the place I’m at these days. These are all little anchors floating by on my computer screen. Now they’re floating on yours, too.
Above we have a page from Steven Weissman’s Yikes! #3, vol. 2. I like how how the one-color thing dominated indie comics in the post-Rubber Blanket 90s, and it especially worked for Weissman. His full color stuff is just as beautiful (get those early issues and you’ll see what I mean). This back cover’s a great example of that.
For some eye catching and unintentional crudeness (which perhaps was a product of its budget restraints — what isn’t?), I present: The Skull Killer.
The characters therein are preexisting pulp personas, at least the main ones are. The comic itself is… okay, written by Brendan Faukner (the only comic credit to his name) and drawn by Gary Terry (it reminds me of a Michael T. Gilbert comic inked with a brush). It’s the coloring, credited to Si & Seth Deitch (Kim’s siblings) that attracts me. The creators could probably only afford a few colors while using a press that could only sustain that amount of coloring (that’s how that works, I bet), yet they just had to make this happen. The world needed to see this comic at any cost. It’s a situation made up of the same things that made zine trading possible… y’know, the comic trading circuit from the 60s and 70s. Whether that was the case here or not, it reminds me of a bunch of kids doing it just because they can.
It’s a black and white comic, I should add, the color pages being a couple of rare treats saved for the title pages and the money shot… except this odd example of arbitrary spot coloring (see below). Now THIS I can get behind!
While we’re on the subject of gun toting, I can’t make out the signature on this pin-up…
…but I’m pretty sure it’s John Beatty (uncredited in that 31st issue of Punisher War Journal). Beatty’s doing an inky, quiet version of Michael Golden but, again, it’s the colors that create a very specific world (which may or may not have been Beatty himself). I’m liking the combination of Punisher and pink hues, actually.
Moving forward, I’ve been revisiting “The Bowing Machine”, that awesome collaboration between Alan Moore and Mark Beyer from long ago. Here’s a sampling.
It’s one of my favorite Moore stories and Beyer’s art matches it perfectly. It’s almost like he writes with the artist in mind. Moore tends to do that. It’s his thing. Read it in its entirety here if you haven’t done so already, or hunt down that issue of RAW if you really need to own it.
E L S E W H E R E
A few posts ago I mentioned some Spanish editions of comics that I had as a kid. They usually looked like this.
Nothing like this, however, which is a bit of a shame because I would love to see some Spanish Ditko comic with a red/purple Spider-Man.
There’s more where that came from.
Then this cover happened.
I like Jeff Jones well enough, I’m not a huge fan, but this cover is amazing. Everything about it I was struck by. He’s got some other classic ones, too (including the best Wonder Woman covers ever committed to paper). See them here. Oh, and check out some Kaluta splashes while you’re at it. There’s some great stuff in there.
HOW DARE YOU, NOT COMICS?
This popular blog has been profiling Susan Perl in segments. Count them: one, two, three, four. Her early work for Condé Nast publications is my favorite. It’s a good mix of raw and refined.
I also can’t seem to stop watching portions of this video masterpiece by Robert Ashley.
Speaking of things that defy you to look away…
There. I feel much better now.
–Fiffffffffe