The Cowan Collection

If you can't get enough of archives or large collections of original art you should check out the two blogs Bob Cowan have.

One of them deals with his collection of original comic art.
Cowan Collection: Comic Art
Several really good pieces has been posted so far.
Just take a look at these small pics of rare Flash, Buck and Tarzan artwork! (Full versions can be found on Cowans blog.)



And then we have his impressive collection och original animation art. Again, these are just thumbnails presented here. You will find these and a huge amount of other wonderful artwork at Cowan Collection: Animation



If you havn't checked out his blogs already you should!

And while I'm at it:
If you like newspaper comics from the 50's you should visit
Ger Apeldoorn's blog.
Many nice samples and texts about them.

Now you got enough blog recommendations to keep you away from the rest of the world for at least an hour or two. :)

/Joakim.

PS. I just remembered that I have photos from another archive taken in 2004. I'll try to post them soon.
And I also have Chuck Thorndike's book "The business of cartooning" from 1939 on loan right now. Will post some of the more interesting cartoonist biographies from that one in a not too distant future.

Semic archive Pt. III

If you were a reader of the Swedish Phantom comic book ("Fantomen") in 1984 you might remember this:

Yes, it's the original painting of the Bengali map that was enclosed with numer 26 that year.
Now it's time for the final visit to the old Semic archives and you guessed it: It's Phantom time. :)

One of the largest parts of the archive is the space occupied by old issues of the Phantom comic book originals and stats.
Like these giant original paintings from issues unknown to me.

Here we see Germund checking out a box labeled Fantomen 1958 1959. It's filled with pages of cut up and pasted up Phantom pages.

Here's another box with pasteups from 1942-1961.

And here's a look inside Pandora's... eh that Phantom box.

Here are some other random pages so that you can see the different state they are in. Some of the pages are falling apart while others still are in excellent condition.



One of the films used to make the cover of Fantomen 2 1951.

Naturally there is plenty of modern art by Kari Leppenän, Hans Lindahl and others.


Now, enough of archive porn... ;)

Semic archive Pt. II

Now, back to the archive. :)

Besides original art there is plenty of old proof sheets to newspaper comics. Both reformatted and translated but also unedited original proofs on glossy paper.
Like these Buffalo Bill strips or Johnny Hazard sundays.


Johnny Hazard is BTW running in the Swedish Phantom comic book now wich reprints every sunday in color.

Besides all adventure comics there are also a great deal of Funny Animal stuff. Mostly Walter Lantz comics like Woody Woodpecker but also Tom & Jerry and other MGM titles like Carl Barks Barney Bear stories.
Here we see Germund pulling out a folder and finding, by pure luck, an issue with Paul Murry art and with the original proofs intact. Happy, happy. Joy, joy. :)


When the material couldn't be obtained from Western publishing it could always be traced. Oddly enough the traced image here doesn't match the printed one so I have no idea what it was used for.

The next and final installment to this archive visit will appear early next week.
Here's a little teaser to keep you coming back :)

Bamse cells

Seriegalleriet has just released an amazing set of original Bamse cells on their website. All are from the last Bamse movie "Bamse i trollskogen" and comes with color prints of the backgrounds. All hand drawn by Rune Andréasson and colored by his wife Maivor. A set of cels with the original matching backgrounds will also be released whithin the next days. Here are some samples:


Prices are ranging from 500 to 2000 sek each for the cells with printed backgrounds. (Cheap, IMO.)
To view a complete list visit the Seriegalleriet website and look under Lagerförteckning, Rune Andréasson. Plenty of other nice stuff there too.:)

Semic archive Pt. I

[Edit: the entire post is now in English.]
Finally! It's time to show you some photos from the almost legendary "Semic archive".
It's located in Stockholm, Sweden and is in reality the storage room for almost all of Egmonts comic books and production materials. This is were you go when you are looking for stuff to reprint.

Last Wednesday myself and my colleauge Germund made a business trip to Stockholm to move a small part of the Egmont archives to Malmö. But during a break in the packaging we explored the treasures hidden on the other shelves.
As you can see in these photos every shelf is jam-packed from top to bottom with folders. Each folder contains originals or reproduction copies for a specific comic book published by Åhlen & Åkerlund, Semic, Williams etc. during the past 60 years.
I don't know hom many thousands of folders there are but there sure are plenty...

On the second photo you see folders for old (and new) x-mas albums. The wall to the left contains stuff for Swedish comics like 91:an, Åsa-Nisse and Kronblom.

Besides original art there are a huge amount of bound volumes a´nd stacks of comic books. Some 10 copies deep.
What about a Mint-set of 1970's Lajban? No? ;)

What follows are some random photos just to show the wide range of material found.

Old original art. Don't remember the name of the comic but it looks like 1940's stuff.

Original artwork for the covers to Musse Piggs Julbok. The artwork is rather crude and copied from interior art but I'm still glad that they has survived. Disney comic book art from this time period is pretty rare.


The boxes with Pellefant has besides reproduction material also comic books in different languages. Hesre is one issue in four different versions.


There are an incredible amount of Pelle Svanslös material from the late 60's and 70's. Did you know that besides the comic book there were a daily strip and a sunday? Note that the dot pattern is on a separate layer.


A pasted up repro copy of a Swamp Thing cover used in Gigant 4/85.


The original cover for Toppserien 8/78. Painted by?

Let's take a break here and return in a day or two with some Funny Animal stuff and then a huge post on the Swedish Phantom comic book. Lots of interesting stuff to come. :)

More Baba

Sill looking for Baba strips. Single strips or large groups are equally wanted for the upcoming book project. The more we have to choose from the better. Here are some samples. If you know were more can be found please let me know! (Images courtesy of Svenskt Seriearkiv.)




Gotta rush now. Look out for the report on the Semic archive tomorrow! (If everything works here...)

The answers

David Gerstein said...
Whoa! You've gotten into some Stockholm proof storage room, either Semic's or Bulls'... fer gosh sakes, what a sight!

You are right David! What you see in the background is a small part of the old Semic archive. Tons of original art, proofs and old comic books in a giant storage. And the guy in the picture is my friend and colleauge Germund Von Wowern.
The painting he's holding is the original art to Kalle Ankas julbok 1950. The printed cover can be seen below. (Thanks to outducks.)

A report illustrated with loads of photos of rare and unique items will follow soon. Probably on tuesday or even tonight if I can find the time.

Right now I'm trying to finish an Emma & Sara page (Deadline tomorrow!) I've switched to felt tip pens to make the pages faster. And to avoid frustration with crap brushes...
Here's an unfinished panel with Sara and her sister.
Now I gotta go back to the drawing board. Work, work, work...

Who? What? Where?

Who is this man?
Where is the picture taken?
Exactly what is he holding in his hand?
And... why is he looking so silly in this pic? :)

Anyone who knows or wants to guess?

If not, you can just relax and wait.
The answers (or at least some of them) are coming soon to a blog near you. :)

Stickers and shades

It's hot and sunny outside and I hereby welcome you to the summer edition of the Sekvenskonst blog's nostalgia corner.
Nostalgia if you grew up in Sweden that is.
These items were all extras in summer issues of Kalle Anka & C:o in the mid/late 70's.

The sun shades (right english word?) are from, top to bottom, 1974, 1975 and 1976.




The stickers are drawn by a young Bo Michanek and are from issues 28, 29 and 30. (year unknown)


I wonder how many of these shades and stickers that has survived? Pretty hard to find these days I guess.

For sale

Trying to make room for new stuff in my apartment when I found these on a shelf.
Glamour International 6-10.
They are filled with erotic art and "pin-up" photos.
Art is by Dave Stevens, Bill Sienkiewicz, Guido Crepax, Frollo, Giardino, Bill Ward, Liberatore, Rotundo, Manara, Micheluzzi, Giorgio Cavazzano (!!!) and Serpieri just to mention a few. Text is in Italian, French and English. LARGE size. They are not in Mint condition and have dents etc. but still really nice and looks good.
I think that these went for something like $30 each. But if anyone wants to get them I say $60 for the whole lot ( ca. 360 sek.) +postage. If you are interested please drop me a line. sekvenskonst /at/ telia.com



+ that I got some sets of strips clipped from Swedish newspapers. A huge lot of Tony & Maria Cronsams' "Elvis". Lots of early strips in black and white from the original pre-syndication days. And set of Li'l Abner and Popeye (Knallhatten and Karl-Alfred) fron Dagens Nyheter. Let me know if you are interested.