Asterios Sneath

I just knew I had seen Asterios Polyp somewhere before... :)


(Yes, I know it's probably just a coincidence that he looks like someone in an old Captain Easy story, but...)

Jim Holdaway's Fashion Plate

Ever wanted to know wich board Jim Holdaway used when he drew his Modesty Blaise strips? Most of the original art has been ripped of the original board so that only the thin surface with the artwork remains. But a few unharmed board remains! And if you flip the artwork over you'll find this. Enjoy!

ISV

You've probably noticed the absence of posts here. We are gearing up for the comics festival ISV that is coming up this weekend. So much to do and so little time to blog. But next week!!! Then everything hopefully will be back to normal.
Now, back to printing home made comic books in the studio...

Carl Barks "lost" Uncle Scrooge adventure

As I've mentioned earlier I recently bought two folders filled with plot ideas etc by Carl Barks. One has Gyro Gearloose stuff and the other (labeled "Story Germs") is filled with papers dating from ca late 50's to the mid 60's.

I've only read half of the sheets so far and already found some interesting (and revealing) stuff! But that will have to wait a while, because the focus in this post will be on the Happi Happi island story.

It's an unfinished Uncle Scrooge adventure and I'll try to tell you a little bit about it without revealing too much. (I don't want to spoil the fun for you, since I hope these script pages can be published one way or another some day.)

Parts of the story structure and some of the elmements reminds me of both "A Spicy Tale" and "The Staus Seeker"(both written in 1962). Since the rest of the material in the folder is from that period, I think it's a safe bet to say this script is from late 1961 or early 1962.

What I have are the nine and a half first script pages, with dialouge and scene descriptions.
In addition to that I have five and a half pages with ideas and a pretty detailed synopsis of the full story. This would probably have been a 20 pager if it had been finished.

The introduction is structured similar to the "The Status Seeker", but instead of a posh party with rich people we have a Do-gooders club as a starting point. And instead of a giant jellyfish that likes peppermint candy, we have another animal of the sea that the nephews feeds with peanuts. (And like the jellyfish it saves the day.)
The business with Donald teaching natives what's "good" for them in "A Spicy Tale" is probably a refined version of the Do-gooders vs the natives in the Happi Happi story.
All three stories also features natives in a tropical climate. So you see why I draw parallells between the stories.

The script ends abruptly in the middle of page 10. I can see why, since the scenes following presents some storyteling problems to be solved.
And after making the Status Seeker-story and "A Spicy Tale" Barks probably felt no need to finish the Happi Happi-story.

Now, should this story be finished? Someone writing the remaining pages following Barks synopsis, and someone drawing it? Or should it be left as is? Maybe it shouldn't be published in any form since Barks never finished it?
Maybe I shall run it through the paper shredder? ;)

My opinion is that it should be left as is.
Like Hergé's "Tintin and the alphabet art" we have an unfinished story that should remain unfinished.
Someone with great skill could draw the part of the story that has been fully written. And then adding every word from the synopsis and the plot sheets. Or make a "fan publication" out of it reproducing the sixteen pages unaltered as they are?

[Edit: I've changed my mind. If a good script writer can do a good job with it. Well why not.]

And what to to with the other one hundred sheets I have...?

/Joakim.

PS. If any of you have unpublished Barks plots or stories in your drawers I'd like to make a trade.

Sara Whiskey

I was away from the Studio when I had my birthday a few weeks ago, but look what I got this week! A bottle of whiskey with a custom made label from my colleauges in the Studio. :)
The label is drawn by Stina Hjelm and reads (in english): Sara whiskey - for girls with hair on their chest. :)

$999 - Easy money

Wow! The price this book commands on the second hand market...
Hmm, I'm pretty sure the Easy book above isn't even printed yet...


However, while visiting Amazon I saw that something I really, really want: South of the Border by J. B. Kaufman. Gotta get it right away!:)

Well, well...

As you probably guessed the drawings in the last post are most likely done by the same person.
Same pen but different colors.

Here's what the seller wrote to me regarding the Krazy Kat drawing:
"Been in my possession since 1967 when I bought it from Kaufmanns Department store fine arts department. The Kaufmann family commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build Fallingwater. It is absolutely authentic original and comes with a 100% moneyback guarantee!"

Same seller has Watterson, Wyeth, Dali etc for sale in his gallery...
Well, well...
Here are some more:




And here's that same pen again...


Apparently some people are falling for this.
The Krazy Kat image has already recieved bids.
Luckily the fakes are so poorly done that real collectors will stay away from these fakes. This just shows you gotta be aware of what you are buying.

Here's a quick question:

[Edit: The Krazy drawing below went for $769.99! I'm tempted to draw one myself to get some extra cash. And why not a Watterson while I'm at it...]

What does the four images below have in common?






Not a though question, eh?

E&S #4 cover

Here's a sneak peak of the cover to "Emma & Sara" #4!
Colors by Hedvig!
With a little luck it will see print by the end of the month.
If not, look for it at SPX next year.

Poster size vs postage size

Got the new Don Rosa volume today!
It good that Don reveals where he's hidden his D.U.C.K dedications on all the french posters in this book. Because if he hadn't, it sure had been hard to find them.

Hmm, even though he explains where to find them I still can't see them.
Must bee my eyesight failing...

Carl Barks cover for...?

Right now I'm waiting for my bus to arrive here at Gothenburg bus station. Still 40 minutes until my bus arrives so it's a perfect opportunity to finish my earlier blog post about this cover:
I checked with the seller and he told me that this item was found together with the copy of the "Hall of the Mermaid Queen" reprint shown in my previous post. So it's easy to see why this was thought to be an alternate cover rough for that story.

Well, it's not.
And here's my three points to prove it.

1) The logo was traced from an early Four Color issue of Uncle Scrooge. By March 1967 when US 68 was published that early logo had been out of use for more than 10 years.


2) The nephews are almost identical to the ones seen on the 1988 litho "The Makings of a Fish Story".

3) The image of Uncle Scrooge diving was traced from a drawing by William Van Horn, most likely done for the "Horsing around with History".

That said the above info would date the Barks drawing to 1994 and not 1967. Quite a difference.

For all I know the buyer might have been aware of all this and then it's fine. But if not, this might come as an unwelcome surprise.
(BTW: I'm 100% sure the seller didn't try to fool anyone. Anyone might have done the same mistake if not having access to the info I had.)
This shows the importance to know what you are buying and to do your research.

What is this?

This piece of artwork was recently sold on eBay. It went for $1291.

The auction description read as follows:
>>>CARL BARKS - Original Artwork for Preliminary Paste-Up Drawing to Concept for the Cover to UNCLE SCROOGE No. 68, with Comic Book from HALL OF THE MERMAID QUEEN!- , FROM THE ESTATE COLLECTION OF CARL BARKS - circa March of 1967, Original drawings on velumn, pasted down to cover format paper, red-line and blue-line and lead pencil on paper and velumn. The background image with Scrooge is drawn on paper, the kids are on velumn, title and images are taped down, Image size is 12 1/2" x 10", unmatted. The comic is the reprint issue #125, which contains the same story. CONDITION is VERY GOOD with OFF-White paper.>>>

And here's the cover of US 68 that's referred to in the description:
Now, the regular blog reader will know that there's something fishy (pun intended) when I do a post like this. But you'll have to wait a while to get the answer. It's lunch time here in Sweden and Hedvig is bugging me about food. Got to do some shopping with her now, but I'll get back to this post later today or tomorrow.

Mel Graff original daily 1935

Continuing my never ending series of posts with Mel Graff's "Adventures of Patsy" here's a scan of a nice original that an italian fan sent me.
(Thanks, Milone for letting me share these scans!)
It's dated 9-16, 1935 and that makes it one of the earliest Patsy dailies by Graff I'm aware of. Got a nice bunch of Graff originals myself, but none this early.



And while on the subject, Bruce Rosenberger has posted the very first Patsy story here: http://www.mediafire.com/?kfzwfwlltrm
April and May 1937 here: http://www.mediafire.com/?jfwygmmz2mh
And June 1937 here: http://www.mediafire.com/?mqmmyh5ynnm
Enjoy!

Robert Fawcett book

Just checked the website of François San Milan and saw this:

A book on Robert Fawcett, one of the best illustrators ever IMO, is in production and wil be published by Auad Publishing!
Now, this is a book I'm really looking forward to. And if you are a fan of Noel Sickles I'm sure you'll like Fawcett too.

Happy birthday, Sofia!

Today is the birthday of Sofia Falkenhem.
A talented artist that I'm sharing studio space with. She left for Japan this weekend so I have to give my birthday greetings in a digital way.
Happy birthday, Sofia!

But what is a blogpost without a picture? Here's something Sofia drew on my wrist a few years ago.
I just had to make a copy of it before I washed it away. :)

Felix week - Part IV

To end this "Felix week" here are a few strips from what I believe is the final episode that Wejp-Olsen made himself.
(I've seen later strips by him inked by some one else.)
In this story, "Felix and Hatman", the super hero Hatman is constantly beeing attacked by a mysterious villain. It turns out that the villain actually is the cartoonist that created Hatman. The strips below are from the sequence when Hatman first meets his creator.



How it ends? Well, let's hope someone reprints Wejp-Olsens run on the strip. ;)

Mermaid

Watched the latest Studio Ghibli movie (Ponyo) togheter with my girlfriend today. And afterwards she drew this mermaid that she gave to me. :)
(In case you havn't seen the movie, there's one biiiig helluva mermaid in it. She also did a much cooler drawing with more blood. But I suspect that that one will turn up on her own blog sooner or later...)
Click on image to enlarge.


Now it's late evening here in Sweden.
Heavy winds and lots of rain. Brrr... Autumn.
Time for us to leave the studio and head home...

/Joakim.

Brum at Seriegalleriet

Don't miss the Brum exhibition at Seriegalleriet in Stockholm later this month!
Loads of rare original art will be for sale including watercolors, drawings made for Göteborgs-Posten and unpublished stuff. These items have never been for sale before so I expect that collectors will have to be there early on October 17 to get the good stuff.

Felix week - Part III

Two more samples from Wejp-Olsens run of Felix. The first one from Felix in Micropolis ...


... and the second from Felix and the Treasure of King Salomon.