Screamers on a Train

Right now I'm on a train together with my girlfriend Hedvig. It's hot, no air conditioning and people are coughing and small kids are screaming and crying. Well, we are trying to survive.

And it just happens that the latest Emma & Sara (written and drawn by Hedvig) has the same theme. E & S are faced with screaming kids, a coughing lady and a punk kid who plays loud music on a train. Here are a few panels. The page has been sent to the colorist and will appear in Julia 17 this year.

The BaBa sketchbooks

Today we photographed all the bonusmaterial for the upcoming BaBa book. The preface is also beeing written and some missing strips is beeing searched for etc. The book is slowly progressing but I think it will be finished in time for the bookfair in Gothenburg this autumn (September).

Until then, here are a few pages from Rinaldo's BaBa sketchbooks. Over the years he filled 63 of those. All featuring germs of ideas for BaBa strips and more finished gags. These sketchbooks were the place where the strips were born. It's facinating to be able to follow the creative process by looking in these sketchbooks.
There will be a few pages in the BaBa book but not as many as I wish there could be. So here are a few from sketchbook 60 for your enjoyment.

OENK!

There's a brand new Elsje album out now!
Click HERE or mail info@elsje.nl to get yourself a copy. :)


Edit: Here's small teaser for those of you not familar with Elsje, and for those of you who can't wait to get the book.
More on Elsje, including a few strips in English, can be found on this blog if you click HERE.

Teddy by Andréasson

Following yesterdays Terry – here's Teddy!

Teddy was a comic about a bear and his two friends Skalman and Lasse Skutt, a turtle and a rabbit. It was written and drawn by Rune Andréasson in the 50's and early 60's.
Teddy appeared in a few albums, in the comic book "Tuff och Tuss" and in his own comic book 1959-1960.
All of that is common knowledge for fans of Rune Andréasson here in Sweden.

But...
Very few knows that Teddy also had his own daily strip! I had never seen any examples until I ran into a stack of originals in the Andréasson archive.
I guess that the strip ran in just a few papers, so it's hard, if not impossible, to find any tearsheets of it at all. I have no start or end dates. Further research needs to be done.
Just to show you something here are five strips that I found among some papers and tearsheets that I have on loan. Enjoy!

Terry by Wunder

Ron Goulart sold this rare print of the post-Caniff "Terry and the pirates" cast on eBay a few days ago. I forgot to bid and it sold for less than $20. One lucky bidder got it really cheap...
Anyway, I saved the image and thought I should share this nice George Wunder drawing with you. Apparently it was sent out to fans in the mid-late 40's and part of it might be hand tinted. Enjoy!

Andy Hardy by Al Hubbard - Part I

A few weeks ago I picked up a scribbled script for a 1953 Andy Hardy story.
Andy Hardy was produced by Western, the same company that produced Donald Duck and Woody Woodpecker and had artists like Carl Barks and Paul Murry as freelancers back in the 50's.
I think there were only six issues made of Andy Hardy and that four of them were published as Four Color one-shots. This scribble was made for the third one-shot. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Now, the artist responsible for the artwork in the issues I've seen was Al Hubbard. The artist behind "Scamp" in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. He also did the best version of Fethry Duck for overseas publication and "The Adventures of Peter Wheat"and "Mary Jane and Sniffles". While I don't have a copy of this issue of AH yet (I'm waiting for it to arrive from the states)I suspect this script is also done by Hubbard. Or does anyone have any suggestion who the writer might be?
As soon as I get the published version I'll post a page by page comparisation between the script and the finished comic.

While we wait for that one, here are some panels from Andy Hardy One-Shot #515. Just to wet your appetite. :)

Prince Valiant - again

Today I learned that there will be no more black and white Prince Valiant volumes in english...
Too bad, but according to the publisher it has been very difficult when it comes to distribution. So, I'll guess we have to settle with the new Fantagraphics books. Those will probably be nice but after seeing Hal Fosters line work leaping off the pages in the b/w edition I still wish for a second volume and a third and ...
Everyone with Vanguards Hal Foster book in their bookshelf should get this book. You know you'll love it! :)

Lizzy

The same issue of Vicky that had the "Kalla mig inte älskling" story also had this wonderful "Lizzy" three pager. The style is so fluid, charming and appealing that I suspect Owen Fitzgerald is behind it. Please enjoy!



PS. I just learned about a tribute site to animator/comic artist Jack Bradbury! http://jbrad.org/ Lots of comics, sketches, letters etc. Go check it out!

Prince Valiant in glorious black and white

I just got a fantastic edition of the first two years of Prince Valiant from Portugal! Every page has been reproduced from sharp proofs or carefully restored from the best scource material available.
It should be noted that even though this is published in Portugal the book is entirely in English!
This is really the way I've always wanted a PV edition to look!
Hard covers, large format, good paper and lovingly restored. Hardcore PV fans will naturally get both this and the new Fantagraphics editions. Myself I think I'll stick with the black and white edition. Just to give you a glipmse of it and to wet your apetite here are a few photos:





More photos can be found HERE.

To get a copy if you live in Europe please order from Manuel Caldas (The publisher) or try The Book Palace in UK.
If you live in the USA it's available through Fantagraphics Books.


The publisher of this black and white series are still looking for a number of proofs for upcoming volumes. So if you have any or even nice copies from proofs you should get in touch with him. Or if you know someone with access to proofs. That way we can make sure this will be the best possible edition of Prince Valiant in black and white.

PS. This was published last year but I didn't know about it until now. And it seems that very few collectors knew about it until very recently. So please spread the word about it so the publisher can continue this project.

Rare Savings Bonds ad

This rare page was sold on eBay yesterday for $355. (!!!)
Never seen any of these images before. Caniff, Schulz, King etc. I hope IDW can get hold of a good scan of Raymonds piece for their books.

Too much Bamse stuff...

I mentioned that I was going through my closet, sorting through all of my Bamse stuff. Well, I took some photos that probably will make some hardcore Bamse collectors go drooling for hours. The rest of you will probably think I'm a lunatic that should get a life. ;)
Well, now that all of my extras has been packaged down and storaged most of this will go back into my closet and my apartment will look normal again. :)

Here we go...
First we have some photos of mixed Bamse comic books and albums. Some rare items and some common.




Then some foregin editions. Notice that these sometimes have variations of the Swedish covers or covers not used in Sweden.

Some promotional editions and giveaways. Some for a travel company, one for a stuttering association, a styleguide only available to licence partners etc. Good luck finding them. :)


Some odd and rare stuff.

Some mixed paper lots. The stuff you keep...



Back in the 90's, before web approval and digital printing we had to approve black/blue and white preview copies like these. I kinda miss them. They smelled so heavy of chemicals that you could get a headache though. I guess these are the only surviving copies.

To finish this post some Rune Andréasson (The creator of Bamse) oddities that I've bought over the years.


If you see something in these pictures you want to ask about, please do. I'll only be happy to answer. (If I can.)

Now, enough of this "archive porn". :)

Toth vs Campbell

Remember the E Simms Campbell illustrations I posted a few days ago?
I thought the one with a woman in a bathtub looked familiar. And now I've found the Alex Toth illustration I was thinking of.
Just take a look at the photo below. I guess Alex saw Campbells artwork in Esquire and did his own "version" of it.
BTW: Was Alex artwork printed anywhere before it appeared in Manuel Auads "Black & White" book?

This and that

It's sunday and a "do this and that" day.
Yesterday and today I've been trying to organize my collection of reference copies I've got over the years from working for BAMSE. Damn, I've filled a whole closet with extra copies and other stuff. All my correspondence and all the roughs and pencils I've made over the years fill boxes and more boxes. Letters from freelancers and payment records. Plus rare giveaways and promotional stuff we've produced over the years. Phew. Guess I'll donate it to the Swedish Comic Archive sooner or later. This is more than my apartment can handle...

I'm also mailing invoices for my own company "Illustration & Sekvenskonst" and that's always fun. Now I can just wait for the money to go "ka-ching" in to my bank account. :)

But right now I should finish inking an E&S page. Not much left.
Here's the page in it's current state. The finished version will appear in the Julia magazine #16/09 in early August. Click to enlarge.


PS. Just checked Google Analytics and guess what? THIS post made in December 2007 is still the most viewed month after month... Guess I should have more nudity and XXX rated stuff here, eh? ;)

Kalla mig inte älskling

A few years ago I was browsing through a stack of old romance comics from the late 50's. Here in Sweden there was a comic book called Vicky wich used american comics and ran them in black an white back then. Most of the stuff I saw was pretty uninteresting but there was one story that really stood out. I don't know who the artist is but it sure is made under the influence of Alex Toth. Maybe it's Dan Spiegle?
Just look how well composed the panels are and how the artist use black as a contrast.
I really like "Kalla mig inte älskling" (Don't call me honey) and I hope you will too. :)