Sekvenskonst

The Westerner #194, 1966 part V

2012-02-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

Here are pages 20-23!
This time it's all about one of the sellers of Whitman products.
Meet Fred LaBelle "Our Man in the Maumee Valley".

Bonus: Here's a photo from ca 1941-42. It's the Western lobby and reception area in Racine. Bet few of you have seen this photo before. :)

Any sharp eyed reader who can identify the Disney publications on the wall?

Update: Are Myklebyst was able to identify the publication! It turned out to be "The Victory March", Random House, 1942. Thanks, Are!

Pippi by Vang

2012-01-26T13:55:00.000-08:00

Got the news that Drawn and Quarterly are about to publish the comic book version of Pippi Longstocking, beginning this fall.

Naturally we are talking about the 1950's stories written by Astrid Lindgren herself and drawn by Ingrid Vang Nyman.

I know that Vang Nyman isn't everyones cup of tea, but here are a few samples scanned from the original publication in "Klumpe Dumpe".
Enjoy!

[ BTW: I hope these will be properly restored from the original publications or original art, as the current Swedish editions are looking terrible. Supposedly "restored" but looking like second generation, re-inked photo copies... ]

A piece of original art.

An issue of Klumpe Dumpe and a special comic book published in Sweden.

The Westerner #194, 1966 part III and IV

2012-01-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

Here are part III and IV of the Westerner #194.
But first of all I have to thank Mike Lynch for writing about this on his blog. Thanks, Mike!

Page 14

Page 15

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18

Page 19

Duluth's Centennial Year - 1956

2012-01-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

Just picked up this one.

The Cosmopolitan Magazine Section of the Duluth News-Tribune, July 29 1956.
Cover art by Al Taliaferro. The interior features special artwork by Walt Kelly, Chic Young, Al Capp and others. I wonder how many of these that have survived?

PS. The image above is pretty similar to this one from 1954.

(Image taken from Inducks.).

And it just re-appeared as a "new" cover in Holland. (Thanks, Gerben!)

Mead Schaeffer paints a Post cover

2012-01-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

A classic Schaeffer.

While you are waiting for the next installment of the Westerner #194, here's Arthur Leighton Guptill on how Mead Schaeffer painted a cover for the Saturday Evening Post.
First published in American Artist, December 1945.
Enjoy!

While American Artist didn't have color back in 1945 the Internet have. Here's the cover with and without logo.

The Post, November 10, 1945.

Hedvig – the Angry Li'l Unicorny

2012-01-15T11:38:00.000-08:00

Last summer I spent a few days in the countryside,
together with my girlfriend Hedvig.
Besides relaxing, making red currant pie and working in the garden we found a drawer filled with drawings she did as a kid.
And next to those we found a box filled with ponies cut out of paper.
There were thousands of them! No joke.
I got to pick one.
And I chose the one she had namned after herself. :)
An angry little unicorn pony.

Today is her birthday so I decided to do a version of my own for her.

Happy birthday, Hedvig!
/Joakim.

( To see her more recent artwork check out her blog vixiearts or her deviantart. )

.

The Westerner #194, 1966 part II

2012-01-12T13:42:00.000-08:00

"Once Upon A Time"
The second part of The Golden Anniversary issue of the Westerner has it's focus on the Creative Editorial dept of Whitman Publishing.
Meet Mel Benstead, June Behning, Sybil McGiveran and the rest of the gang!

Coming up next: "Authors and Artists - Hundreds of Free Lance People Create Whitman Products"

The Westerner #194, 1966

2012-01-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

Recently picked up a photocopy of the Whitman / Western Publishing Company in-house publication "The Westerner".
This is issue 194 from January 1966, the "Golden Anniversary Issue". If you are interested in the history of this legendary publishing company this is something for you.

The issue is 36 pages. More?

Update: Here's Part II
Part III and IV

Le voyageur du Mésozoïque - Version Originale

2012-01-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

Got the new Spirou "Version Originale" book from MarsuProductions last week:
Spirou VO4: Le voyageur du Mésozoïque

It contains the full album reproduced in color from Franquin's original art. (Just a few pages couldn't be located for inclusion in this book, but they are still in the book, reproduced in black and white. )
+tons of bonus material. Both from original art and printed sources.
Lot's of stuff I had never seen before.
If you like the artwork of Franquin this book is a must have!
Just check out the images below:

130 pages.
30 x 43 cm HC.
Limited to 2000 numbered copies.
You can get it by clicking HERE.

Vicar

2012-01-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Victor Arriagada Ríos

16/4/1934 - 3/1/2012

Mark O'Polo by Gottfredson

2011-12-30T03:09:00.000-08:00

Picked up these items earlier this year.

As some of you might know that legendary Mickey Mouse artist Floyd Gottfredson had plans for another comic strip of his own called Mark O'Polo. He was influenced by E.C. Segars Popeye and probably also by Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon. (Judging by the surviving concepts and plots.)
The lot included the following items: a sketch of the main character Mark O'Polo, a penciled logotype and a five page plot titled "Baby Elephant Baby-Sitter" stuffed in a envelope.

Has anyone ever seen a finished or even pencilled Mark O'Polo daily?

Dalí, Disney e Don Chisciotte

2011-12-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

As a follow up to Michael Barrier's recent "Walt's 110th" post, here's a newspaper photo that I caught on eBay. Enjoy!

And as a "bonus" to this post a 1931 Will's Cigarettes card from their cinema stars set, featuring Walt and Mickey. (Also caught on eBay.)

Same, same ...

2011-12-21T01:58:00.000-08:00

... but different.

~~I believe the WDC cover came first.~~ New Funnies #94 was published in Dec 1944, a year before WDC 63. The Scandinavian edition of WDC changed the turkey into a goose to fit better with our traditions. (Images courtesy of GCDB.)

Happy holidays to you all!

2011-12-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

This piece of Carl Barks art recently surfaced at auction.
A post for those of you who has already seen "everything". :)

Image courtesy of Hake's.
Handwritten text at top “Hi, Mr. Matetsky-We Deeply Appreciate Your Interest In Us Ducks!” with additional text just below scene “-And So Does Carl Barks”. Handwritten text on bottom half reads “Dear Mr. Matetsky-I Wish To Thank You For Your Generous Valuation Of My Duck Paintings. I Try To Make Each One As Good As My Skills Will Permit. You Certainly Make Such Hard Work Worthwhile. Gratefully Yours, Carl Barks”.

Bob Pistella got another nice letter drawing in his comicartfans gallery. Click HERE to see it.

To round off this post, here's a letter + drawing sent to Jim Lowe in 1974:

NF 266

2011-12-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

Located a set of black and white proofs for the New Funnies #266 Woody Woodpecker story yesterday.
With the old Western publishing coloring still intact! (On separate sheets.) Sadly the lettering was missing, but all of the nice Paul Murry art was still there.
Here's a sample.

It's nice that stuff like this still turns up now and then, don't ya think?

Coffee break

2011-12-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Just an ordinary day at work at Egmont.

Bamse is having a coffee break, reading the latest issue of his comic book.

That issue got some press coverage in Arbetarbladet.
We happened to do a story about how a giant christmas goat was burned.
And the night after the subscribers got it in the mailbox ...
the christmas goat in Gävle burned.

Well, well ...

Lilla My and a pair of Filifjonkor

2011-12-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

I just have to share this scan of a wonderful gouache by Tove Jansson, featuring "Lilla My" and a pair of "Filifjonkor".

1950's? 1960's? Anyone who knows were this was published? I don't think I've seen it before.
It's currently for sale at Seriegalleriet in Stockholm.
If you got 135.000 sek to spare, my advice is that you go ahead and buy it.
I surely would.

Update: The piece is now sold!
Congratulations to the buyers. It's a real gem!

Barks handwritten script to TDWCtD

2011-11-21T13:48:00.000-08:00

Just got a mail from John Lustig with some good news!
The complete handwritten script to "The Duck Who Came to Dinner" by Carl Barks is now posted on his Last Kiss site!
I posted a few images last month, but there are more panels from the story to be seen on Johns site along with background info.
Just click HERE!
Enjoy!

A sample script page by Carl Barks. More to be found on the Last Kiss site.

Lightbox View – #%§∞

2011-11-20T14:23:00.000-08:00

You might have noticed that Blogger have switched to a new "Lightbox view" when you click on images.
Like this:

You know the stuff that makes it hard to just drag and drop an image if you want to download it. The thing that doesn't allow you to zoom in on an image?
Does it annoy you? Do you want to get rid of it on your own blog?
Well here's how to do it:

-----
If you’d like to disable Lightbox on your blog, log in to Blogger and select No next to Lightbox in the Settings | Posts and Comments section (new interface) or the Settings | Formatting section (old interface).
-----

Feel free to spread the word to other bloggers.

Dick Kinney Fethry scribbles for sale

2011-11-18T05:25:00.000-08:00

Update: The pages sold for US $1,007.00!

Fans of Fethry, Dick Kinney and Disney Comics history:
The complete scribbled script to the very first story featuring Fethry is now for sale on eBay.
Check it out by clicking HERE.

Tom and Jerry artist identification

2011-11-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

~~Calling all Funny Animal experts!~~
~~While scanning old Tom & Jerry proofs I came across a story by an artist I couldn't identify.~~
~~Anyone who can help? Would be nice to get the credits right.~~

Edit: The artist is Vic Lockman.
Thanks, Alberto!

Russell Patterson Pin-up girls

2011-11-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

Do you like the art of Russell Patterson? Of course you do!
Here's a photo of one of his "Pin-up girls" cartoons from March 28, 1945.
Beautiful brush work as always when it comes to Patterson!

If you are interested in buying the original art you should mail the owner right away, as it's for sale. You can reach her at: dreamfarm2 at aol.com

/Joakim.

A Mickey for Dawn

2011-11-11T01:15:00.000-08:00

Ho! Ho! Ho!
X-mas comes early this year with an unpublished watercolor by Floyd Gottfredson.

Mickey watercolor by Gottfredson

2011-11-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

This Floyd Gottfredson drawing of Mickey and Minnie surfaced earlier this year.

Watercolors, besides the ones he did for Willits, are not common to see but apparently he did a few with Mickey and Minnie dancing in various costumes. This one was made for John Mass.

Here's a similar one that I posted back in 2009.

Hagar the Fakeable

2011-11-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Would you pay $157.50 for this?

Well, apparently someone did on eBay today.
If the buyer reads this: Send me $100 and I'll do a bunch of re-inked Hagar strips for you. 10 or more and you'll get 'em for $75 each. Deal? :)

A letter from Walt

2011-10-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

Are Myklebust sent me this image of a 1959 letter from Walt Disney.
Those of you who enjoyed the previous posts about his visit to Sweden will find this interesting. :)

The Golden Turkeys

2011-10-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

The following text is a rough translation of the last part of a longer text about Carl Barks re-written Duck stories from the 50's and 60's. Published in Swedish Donaldist fan magazine "NAFS(k)uriren" this year.

-----------

When you read the stories Barks made new versions of in the late 50's and early 60's there's one that stands out and differs from the others. The Terrible Tourist WDC 248 (1961) was in fact a new version of a story that was intended to be published in WDC 64 (1945), but that was rejected by Western Publishing. It was shelved and was first published more than thirty years later. For readers in the 60's, this was not a re-make of an old story but a brand new one.
But what about the other stories that Barks saw disappear into the archives during the 50's? Why didn't he re-write any of them when he was looking for stories to re-work? Well ... Maybe that's just what he did.

In 1952 Barks drew a story that later became known as The Golden Apples. It was shelved and, unfortunately, it has been missing since then. The only thing we know about it are the bits and pieces of information Barks shared over the years.

The Golden Apples story took place during the Duckburg apple festival. There was a a contest where the men in Duckburg would gather golden apples in the woods. Apples that were placed there by the festival queen, inspired by the Greek myth of Atalanta. Donald becomes fond of the festival queen. Something that makes Daisy thoroughly jealous. One of the reasons why the story was never published is said to be that Daisy behaved too "unfeminine" in this story.

When one reads Turkey Trouble in WDC 243 (1960), it is easy to draw parallels between the two stories. Instead of an apple festival, it is a thanksgiving day feast and all men play at being pioneers who captures game and gather fruit in the forest. The main course to be served at the feast is turkey. Whoever captures the most wild turkeys in the woods gets to dine with the queen of the festival.

The basic idea is the same as for the 1952 story! Gladstone Gander appears in the 1960 story, but he was probably not in the golden apples story. Barks often changed the cast of his rewritten stories, and since he never mentioned that Gladstone would have been in the older one, we can probably rule out his involvement.

However, I can imagine that even in the story about the golden apples some crooked cheating took place in the woods. Where Donald is tricked to buy chickens disguised as turkeys, he might have been cheated to buy normal apples painted with gold paint in the old version.

Daisy's temperament that the publisher didn't like has understandably disappeared.
As with most other new versions Barks wrote these years, he retained the storys structure but clothed it in a new suit.
Of course, I'm just speculating. But it's fun to play with the idea that one of the lost Barks stories in a way, still remains. Although the golden apples turned into turkeys.

Sam Register at MIPJunior 2011

2011-10-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here's something you should check out if you are into animation and WB properties in particular.
Sam Register - Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs, Warner Bros. Animation - discussing the Studio’s current and upcoming projects.
Just click HERE!
Enjoy!

New Barks, Lustig and Jippes story this week!

2011-10-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

A brand new Uncle Scrooge story by Carl Barks, John Lustig and Daan Jippes will be published this week!
It's an unfinshed script by Barks, probably from the 60's, that John Lustig now has finished and Daan Jippes has provided the artwork to.
Here are a few samples to wet your appetite.
And for those of you who lives outside scandinavia: you can always bug your editors to pick up "The duck who came for dinner" for publication. The code number is "D 2010-073". :)
Enjoy!

The original script was sold a few years ago as a part of the Barks Estate auctions on eBay.
This is what it looks like.

Besides the unfinshed script to the Happi Happi story I own and a few one pagers there are at least one more unpublished/unfinished plot out there, that is more than just a story description or an idea. (A plot broken down into pages and panels.) It's labeled as "Gyro's manager plot":

And while I'm at it...
I just wanted to mention this one, dealing with Magica DeSpell.
It seems to be written in the 90's, judging by the handwriting. (There are pages below the top one that looks like they are from a Junior Woodcucks story but the handwriting looks like Barks in his 70's.) Might be a scrapped idea that was written before "Horsing Around with History" or another plot began afterwards. Probably one of his last ones and it would sure be interesting to read it in full.

(If you own unpublished plots like the above samples, please get in touch with me. I'm always interested in trading or buying.)

PS. Here's a screencap from Wikipedia.
I changed it back to just "Carl Barks" since someone obviously pulled a leg here. Pretty funny though, but it shows how unreliable some sources can be...
Thanks to "Sim" on the Disney Comics Forum for observing this!

Was the Simpsons character named after Barks? Hmm...

Spiderwig

2011-10-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend Hedvig has been on a Spidey diet for a few days now. Watching the cartoons and re-reading old comic books. And a few minutes ago she sent me this selfportrait. :)

This is what she looks like after watching the 90's cartoons streamed from the net 9 hours non-stop ... :)
More of her stuff can be found here: vixiearts.blogspot.com,
including this image of Emma & Sara. Enjoy!

Walt and Mickey 1948

2011-10-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

This piece turned up on eBay a while ago.
Not the original art but on the back of a bird map.
I guess this was made to celebrate Mickeys 20'th birthday.

Anyone who has seen the other half of the piece?
Wich magazine was it published in?

The bird map and the other half of the back of the map:

Scooby-Doo by Dan Spiegle

2011-10-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

Just a few words to alert Scandinavian readers of this blog that the new Tom & Jerry pocket is out. Besides T&J it also features reprints of a few Scooby-Doo stories drawn by Dan Spiegle in the 70's. (Some of them written by Mark Evanier!)

The nice thing about these stories is that they have been scanned from old films and re-colored. Personally I think that Spiegle's work on Scooby-Doo never have looked better than now.
Here are a few images so that you can judge for yourself.
The pocket book will be available in stores for another month or so.

Walt Disney and Ingmar Bergman

2011-10-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Got two more pics from Simon.
Walt Disney meeting Ingmar Bergman in 1959!
Enjoy!

+ An additional Disney item that I first posted back in 2007:

Found this newspaper clipping dated 1936 in the files of comic book artist Rune Andréasson.
The text reads: "The father of Mickey Mouse doesn't have time to draw!" " Walt Disney surrounded by a part of his numerous family."
What I wonder is; from wich publication is this taken? The back of the clipping doesn't give away any information.
And, is it really Walt Disney in the photo?

/Joakim.

PS. One more photo of Walt in Sweden 1959 ... :)

Walt Disney in Stockholm 1959

2011-10-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to researcher Simon Bülow I'm happy to present news photos and quotes from Walt Disney's visit to Sweden in 1959.
Walt arrived on Wednesday July 1. The reason for his visit was to oversee the production of the live action movie Hans Brinker ("Silverskridskorna" in Swedish).
To get a rough translation of the Swedish quotes you can use Google Translate by clicking HERE.
Enjoy!

Photo from Swedish Television, SVT's digital archive:

Dagens Nyheter, July 2, 1959:

– Att jag kommer just nu beror dels på att jag vill uppleva den svenska sommaren och bekanta mig med det land där mina filmer alltid gått mycket bra, dels vill jag också kontrollera hur Norman Foster lyckas med att förstöra mina pengar.

Norman Foster är producent för Disneyfilmen ”Silverskridskorna”, som under den gångna vintern spelades in i Holland och Sverige. För närvarande återfinns han i SF:s Råsundaateljéer sysselsatt med avslutande klippningsarbete. Än återstår dock att ta några ”vintriga kanalscener”, vilket man misslyckades med i vintras trots att man letade från Gamla stan i söder till Haparanda i norr.

Expressen, July 2, 1959:

– Snövit, kanske är det en otäck historia. Så här gjorde min dotter när hon såg filmen.

OM ÄLSDSTA DOTTERN (som skrivit en bok om honom): Hon kunde bli en bra författarinna. Hon har talang, och jag har sagt att hon kan få jobb hos mej med bra lön. Men hon vill bara sköta barn.

OM TV-WESTERNS: Vi gör nu fler än någonsin. Jag är trött på dem. Men folk har velat ha sånt ända sedan filmen föddes. Egentligen förstår jag inte varför.

OM ARNE SUCKSDORFF: Ja javisst ja, han som gjorde en film om en pojke som åkte spårvagn … Jaså inte … Sorry.

OM KRITIKER: Jag läser aldrig kritik. Vad en kritiker säger är strunt – han kan ha grälat med sin fru strax innan han sätter sig att se den film han ska bedöma. Jag litar mer på publiken.

OM BARN: De blir ärliga när de blir 20. Och då är det nästan för sent.

OM NATURFILMER: Det finns en underbar story i allt det som händer i naturen. Men jag vill inte vara predikant.

OM SIN FRU: Hon är min kritiker.

OM TÅLAMOD: Tålamod, det är när en hustru säger: Älskling jag är klar om 15 minuter, och mannen väntar lyckligt 45.

OM ATT TECKNA SJÄLV: Det händer inte ofta. Jag har en förträfflig stab och vet vad ett original av mig själv skulle kosta.

Vi talar om alla seriefigurerna.

– Musse Pigg är en besvärlig karaktär. Han är egentligen aldrig rolig. Han är ungefär som Harold Lloyd. Han behöver en situation för att komma till sin rätt.

Kalle Anka tillkom som ett komplement. Jag ville ha en figur som kunde fräsa upp och bli förbaskad, men som ändå innerst inne var känslig och blyg. Personligen tycker jag bättre om Kalle Anka även om jag har Musse att tacka för att jag är här i Sverige i dag.

Varför gjorde ni Snövit?

– Vi var tvungna att satsa på en ny typ av cartoon. Och jag tyckte att bättre story än den med prinsessan och dvärgarna och den elaka häxan fansn inte i hela världslitteraturen.

– Är den skräckfylld? Jag såg den tillsammans med min dotter som då var 6. Hon nöp i mej och satte händerna för ansiktet. Men titta ville hon ändå – så här. (Walt Disney gömmer ansiktet i händerna och bligar genom fingrarna).

Världens största pojke avslutar med att tala om framtiden:

– De här fyrtio åren är bara början. Det är nu vi börjar kunna jobbet, jag och min stab. Det är nu vi ska börja på riktigt.

Svenska Dagbladet, July 2, 1959:

I Stockholm pågår nämligen sedan nyår inspelningen av Disneyfilmen Silverskridskorna, en i Amerika klassisk berättelse i holländsk miljö. Filmen görs hos SF och är den största inspelningen som detta vördnadsvärda någonsin haft.

I filmen åks det som titeln anger åtskilligt med skridsko. Olyckligtvis var den gångna vintern den varmaste på fyra år. De holländska skridskoåkarna och deras kvarn flyttades till etappvis norrut ända till Piteå och isen försvann i jämn takt så fort man riggat upp kameran på ett nytt ställe. Nu ska högste chefen själv titta på vad som finns färdigt. Och vad som blivit kvar till den kommande vintern. Dessutom ska han ta sig en titt på Sverige under fem dagar varefter han fortsätter till Wien.

Stockholms-Tidningen, July 2, 1959:

Några scener från mottagningen kan få illustrera:

En energisk fotograf hade med sig en ”egen” miss. Disney tittade förtjust på Mälardrottningen när hon ställts bredvid honom:

– Oh, Miss Copenhagen, sa han förtjust.

På frågan om han kände till Ingemar Johansson blev svaret bara:

– Vem?

En annan svensk, Axel Wenner-Gren, känner han desto bättre. En av de senaste attraktionerna i Disneyland, det fantastiska leksakslandet, en liten värld i miniatyr, är det wennergrenska tåget.

Aftonbladet, July 2, 1959:

MICKEY MOUSE, alias Musse Pigg, är Walt Disneys glada firmamärke som pryder allt firmatryck hos bolaget. Men så är det ju också en ovanligt fin[?] gubbe.

WALT DISNEY är en munter gosse. Här vilar det t. ex. inga ledsamheter vid mötet med Mälardrottningen Eva Brisborg på Forestas hotellterrass på Lidingö.

– Oh, Miss Copenhagen, tjoade han visserligen när han mötte mälardrottningen Eva Brisborg på Forestas soliga hotellterass i går, men det var bara skämt. Walt är fullt på det klara med att Köpenhamn är huvudstaden i Norge, som han också besökt för första gången under den här europaresan, som kommer att omfatta även Wien och London.

Coming up soon: More Walt!

The duck who came to dinner

2011-09-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

A li'l teaser for the story formerly known as CS CBVO 1.
To be published in just three weeks.

More info to come when it's released. :)

Walt and a Ward

2011-09-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos of Walt Disney I recently scanned.
Some are common, some are not.

First we have an image that was used when reporting about Walts death. Published in Europe in early 1967.

This one is nicer. Date unknown. (But I guess that guys like Mike Barrier and Didier Ghez will have no trouble to spot when and where it was taken.)

Two "classic" images of Walt and Mickey:

And to round off this post, a seldom seen photo from 1960 featuring Walt and Christina Blomquist. (Daughter of Sten Blomquist at Mickey Mouse Corporation in Stockholm.)
[Edit: Got the year from the back of the photo. Researcher Simon Bülow tells me he's seen a similar photo in newspaper Dagens Nyheter 1959. So that's more likely to be the right year.)

And, oh, I promised you a Ward too.
So here he is.
Ward with an aWard!

Uncle Rich and Riche Scrooge

2011-09-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Caught this image of the original art to Richie Rich Millions #8 on the net a few months ago. Looks familiar, doesn't it?

Yeah, the idea was lifted from Uncle Scrooge #8, 1953 with cover art by Carl Barks.

Coincidence? Maybe.
Or maybe not... :)

Uncle Scrooge #12 and Richie Rich Millions #22

[Images of comic book covers taken from the Grand Comic Book Database.]

Update Oct 1: Peter Kylling just added a gallery of more Uncle Scrooge and Richie Rich covers on his Carl Barks site. Just click HERE to view it.

Rare Scarbo - Closeup and Comedy

2011-09-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Toby Wing by George Scarbo

What a delight it is to find something you never heard about before, by one of your favorite cartoonists. Thats what happened to me last week, when scanning a set of dailies from 1934. On the back of 8 strips there were parts of a feature called "Closeup and Comedy" by Dan Thomas and George Scarbo! Yep, the guy who did "Comic Zoo".
Here's what I found. Enjoy!

OSU only got about 100 C&C from 1935 in their collection, so I guess it's pretty rare. Too bad since Scarbo really did some great artwork in the 30's. Here's a sample taken from their site.

Caniff Class Artwork

2011-08-25T03:40:00.000-07:00

This piece was sold on eBay a few days ago.

At $143.50 it was a steal for the lucky winner.
If it's a real Caniff, that is. The piece is unsigned and here's what the seller wrote:

"[...] a MILT CANIFF Original STEVE CANYON Drawing Pencil & Ink. The guy that I got this from said that Milt Caniff drew and inked it as an example in his art class. Measures 8 1/2" x 11".

Could be the real deal or a darn good copy of an original Caniff piece. Guess that's why it didn't fetch more. A beautiful and iconic piece none the less.

Horseface Klotz by DeBeck

2011-08-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

It's saturday and I'm relaxing in the kitchen with my girlfriend. Both of us are working on our computers and our cat is watching us. On the stereo: Veronica Maggio.

Have been reading and scanning Barney Google dailies by the great Billy DeBeck for the past month and I thought I'd share some raw scans with you. Let's begin with taking a look at one of the forgotten characters: Horseface Klotz.

He first appeared in the Barney Google strip in 1928 and was a part of the cast for the next two years. When Snuffy appeared in 1934 the likes of him, Sunshine and Sully were quickly forgotten.

Here are the first Klotz dailies from August 1928. (He had been mentioned, but not seen previously.) Enjoy!

PS. If you got Barney Google strips for sale I still have some gaps in my vast collection of BG dailies. Just drop me a mail. Or if you want to trade, I have thousands of BG dailies to trade with.

T&J #84 question

2011-08-19T02:17:00.000-07:00

A quick question to Tom & Jerry /Harvey Eisenberg fans with access to T&J #84.
Does the artwork look like this on page 8 in the comic book, or is it just the set of proofs I got?
The same wobbly effect appears on page 9 too.

(If it looks good in the comic book I'd be happy someone could help me with scans in 600 dpi, color of those two pages.)

DD 46 Shop Dummy

2011-07-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

The "never ending" series of blog posts about the cover to Donald Duck 46 ( See HERE, HERE and HERE.) has now reached the "shop dummy" of the cover. (Are you thrilled? No? Hmpf ...)
The shop dummy was the cover proof used in house to check for wrong colors etc, before the issue went to press. Enjoy!

The Shop Dummy

The published cover

Barks/Block x 3

2011-07-22T07:27:00.000-07:00

Three "lost" Barks/Block pieces just turned up in the comicartfans gallery of Niels Larsen.

To get a closer look and the history behind them click HERE.

Here are miniatures of the Treasury versions of the drawings (taken from inducks) for quick reference.

Barney Google 1931

2011-07-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

Flashback to 1931.
What happened this week in the life of Barney Google 80 years ago? Wonder no more! It's time for a "it's the middle of the summer and I'm too lazy to finsh that post I should have posted weeks ago, so here's something rare from the drawers"-post.
Enjoy!

PS. I can't explain why I love this old fashioned big foot cartooning style and the 1930's gags. I just do.

Al Taliaferro pencil sketch

2011-07-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

How often do you come across a pencil sketch of Donald and Daisy Duck by Al Taliaferro? Almost never, but a few days ago this piece turned up on eBay. (It sold for $232.50.)

Anyone who knows if this piece was inked and published?

Hmm... when you speak of the devil ...

Barney Bear book

2011-07-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Just read over at the IDW site that the Carl Barks Barney Bear book will be released at San Diego Comic con. That's next week! If you go to the con make sure to grab a copy. (Amazon.com still says January 10, 2012 as release date ...)

XXX

2011-07-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

Oh, wadda dirty li'l rat Mickey is.
Bet he's gonna put that "home movie" up on the internet ...

Panel taken from the daily Mickey Mouse strip 3-25, 1947.

Bill and Crab Shanty

2011-06-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Bill Peckmann sent me some really nice designs for t-shirts and a few ads he had made. I liked them and thought you would enjoy seeing some of them. Here are my favourites + a few words from Bill himself:
"Back in the late '90's, instead of singing for my supper, I used to draw for it. A friend of mine had a seafood restaurant called the "Crab Shanty" and loved to give out T-Shirts as a form of advertising. He also loved cartoons and so in exchange for meals I was lucky enough to draw what I wanted."
Enjoy!

Anyone who can guess which year the drawing above was made? :)

Mickey Mouse - tall and wide

2011-06-26T04:36:00.000-07:00

With the reprint boom of classic comic strips there has been some talking among enthusiasts about cut and uncut strips from the 40's. You might know that the strips back then were drawn so that they could be published in two different formats? One tall and one wide.
Unfortunately the most common version seems to be the wide versions. At least when it comes to surviving proofs. Meaning there's not much of an option on which version to use.

But in some cases the full versions exists. Should those be used as is or trimmed down to the wide version? Especially if proofs for the tall versions are available for only a number of weeks in a run of otherwise wide strips.

I've been looking at a lot of Floyd Gottfredson stuff lately and before I give you my personal opinion I'm asking you:
If you have two sets of Mickey Mouse proofs from the period where the strips were drawn for two formats, one tall and one wide, wich one would you go for and why?
I'd like to hear your thoughts on the subject. :)

A typical Micky Mouse strip from 1943.

[For more Gottfredson click HERE. ]

Russell Patterson original art - Part IV

2011-06-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

Seems that I forgot to post one of the Russell Patterson pieces I bought earlier this year.
Well, here it is:

Wilbur Jenks never got his Patterson original either. (See previous Patterson posts.) You see, this drawing was still on an artboard with other drawings left to be cut up and sent out to some lucky Patterson fans back in the days.
Somehow, someone must have forgotten. This piece ended up with an editor who kept it for many, many years. It was later sold to a collector and then he sold them to me.
Here is the full piece, spliced togheter quick in photoshop. (The original is too large for my A3 scanner.) Just so you can see them all together.

For more of the stuff in my collection, please check out my CAF gallery.

Deja View

2011-06-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

In case you have missed it, animator Andreas Deja has started a blog called Deja View. He has already posted a large quantity of great artwork by legendary animators and illustrators (Sullivant and Kley) that I havn't seen elsewhere.
If you haven't checked it out already, you should!
Just click HERE.

This also gives me an opportunity to show the nice drawing I got in Andreas sketchbook A different stripe. (Stil available from Stuart NG books!) Enjoy!

A new book on Walt Kelly

2011-06-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

This book caught my eye on Amazon.com today:

Walt Kelly: The Life and Art of the Creator of Pogo

This should be interesting. "[...] essays by Walt Kelly scholars Tom Andrae, Carsten Laqua, and Mark Burstein together with an appreciation by Kelly's stepson, Scott Daley." 244 pages and July 27 as a release date. The only thing that makes me worried is the design. It screams "cheap fan publication" in capital letters. And if I may judge a book from it's cover, I'll stay away from it until I'm sure the repro quality on the inside is OK.

[Edit: This seems to be the final cover:

And it's a stunner! Beautiful! Thanks to Germund who alerted me.]

Until then: check out the wonderful Walt Kelly blog Whirled of Kelly!

Heinrich Kley

2011-06-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice piece of pen and ink work by Heinrich Kley.
It was sold on eBay in January 2007 and I still wish I had bought it. But if my memory serves me right it went for much more than I could afford at the time.
Still, these eBay images are better than nothing. Enjoy!

I have absolutely no idea about what's going on in this drawing, but that only adds to the beauty of Kleys work. Much of his work will make you think twice before you can figure out what's going on. If you can at all. Still those lines are so full of life you just can't stop beeing fascinated by them.

Hmm... Thinking twice, those antlers and womans makes me think that the guy is having something dirty on his mind ...

For more Kley please click HERE to get to heinrich-kley.com.

Gaston and Elsje

2011-06-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

Got some great stuff in the mail this week. I just have to share some snapshots and recommend these books, even though I can't read much french or dutch. (Well I struggle with it ... And dutch is easier to understand. At least for me. )

First out is a giant sized book on Gaston by Franquin. It contains a treasure trove of stuff, all reproduced from original art. Everything from comics to special illustrations and covers. This is a book that I will come back to for inspiration many, many times.

Then we have a smaller book with X-mas themed stories and illustrations by Franquin. Not a stunner as the Gaston book but still an attractive collection for Franquin fans.

You can get both of the above books here: http://www.franquin-collector.com/

Next we have two new Elsje books by Eric Hercules and Gerben Valkema! Again, my dutch is terrible but the strips I've managed to read are funny. :) And the strip seems to be a success in the Netherlands with lots of subscribing papers and several Elsje collections published. Anyway, if you are a fan of good artwork you should get the books even if you can't read them. :)

This is the fourth strip collection and the first collection of the full pages that has appeared in EPPO.

Sorry about the slightly blurred photos. Here are some strips taken from the Elsje website:

Click HERE for more and to visit the Elsje website.

/Joakim.

Johnny Hazard 1944-46

2011-06-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Just saw this on Amazon:

280 pages, hardcover and covering 1944-46.

The info text on Amazon says: "Reproduced entirely from original King Features press proofs." Well, after seeing the Rip Kirby books we all know that having access to proofs from KFS says nothing about the quality. Let's just hope they are better than the Rip Kirby proofs ...

Anyone involved in the project with access to the strips who can confirm the quality? Cut or uncut versions etc.

And while I'm at it: If the proofs are good it would be a shame to release them in a book with a cover design like this. If anyone at Hermes Press reads this, please check out other well designed books for some inspiration. The image above looks more like a "fan publication" than a book collecting a classic comic strip. (I'm not writing this to be mean, but I think a more classy design will help sales.)

Coloring the Woodpecker

2011-06-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how coloring was done back in the 60's?
A few years ago I stumbled over a set of proofs from Western Publishing, the company that published the Disney, MGM, Walter Lantz titles etc. But not only proofs for the black lines but in some cases for the colors too.
Let me run you through a few samples. In this case the proofs comes from Woody Woodpecker #122, a reprint of WW #65. Artwork is by Paul Murry. The writer and colorist are both unknown.

First we have the inked artwork.
While the original art was drawn large, the size of the proof is 100% of the printed comic book.

Then we have the proof for the Yellow color to the left. To the right we see what it looks like when the black proof for the yellow color has been scanned and placed in the yellow channel in Photoshop, together with the black lines in the black channel.

Then we have the proof for Red placed in the Magenta channel.

And then the Blue proof placed in the Cyan channel.

Now, let's combine Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black into one CMYK file.

What puzzles me are the big chunks color that doesn't belong to the page. Does anyone know why it's there?

With all the proofs combined it's easy to clean the page from that extra "mystery" color.

Bonus page: I guess most of you can see wich Carl Barks story that inspired the writer of this Woody story? :)

And finally a panel for those of you who thought this post was interesting and wants to see those screentones close up. ;)

/Joakim.

2011-06-07T00:57:00.000-07:00

Coming up next:

Click to enlarge.

Three Lazy Mice

2011-06-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

Edit: Story now removed. Hope you liked it.

The Three Lazy Mice by the great Harvey Eisenberg!
Just click HERE.

PS. Since I'm not sure about the copyright on this story it will only be up for a short time.
So if you like what you see, spread the word!

Eisenberg on demand

2011-05-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Back in 1952 Harvey Eisenberg, of Tom & Jerry fame, drew a story called "The Three Lazy Mice" for Western publishing. It's all written in verse and I get a Walt Kelly vibe from just looking at it. :)
Got it in glorious black and white, and if there's interest in seeing it I'll post it here on the blog.
Just let me know.

Sample half page from "The Three Lazy Mice", 1952.

Miki Ma'oz #1

2011-05-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

The department of odd comic books proudly present Miki Ma'oz!
This is issue issue no. 1. Published in Tel Aviv, 1947.

It's currently up for auction and the description reads:
Illustrated booklet for children includes comic stories inspired by "Mickey Mouse", "Pinocchio" and "Donald Duck" [Danny Avazani] by Walt Disney. One of the first comics books published in Eretz Israel. [8]pp, 25cm.

Scooby-Doo artist identification

2011-05-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

At work we pulled a set of 1970's stats from our Scooby-Doo shelves last week. And we plan to reprint some of the material in our pocket books later this year.
Now, the style of artwork looks familar to me.
Could this be Dan Spiegle? Maybe working together with another artist?
And does anybody know who wrote Scooby-Doo during the 70's?
If we can get the right credits we'd love to print the names of the creators in our books.

Update 1: Just found out that this story was printed in Scooby Doo Mystery comics #19 and one of the other stories we have picked was taken from #30. We still don't know where the other two stories we have found were first published. (One about the treasure of Sierra Fantasma and one about a ghost on a river boat.) And the Grand Comics Database gives no credits for these issues.

Update 2: Thanks to Mark Evanier who could confirm that Dan Spiegle indees was the artist behind this story! :)

"Scrooge is not part of painting"

2011-05-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Just watch this auction for:
Original Oil Orgin of "Another Rainbow"1968.
Enjoy!

This is what the painting actually looks like ...

And while I'm at it:

One of the most unlikely team up pages I've ever seen. What's going on here and where was this published? Photo taken from eBay.

Sketches by Hedvig

2011-05-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hedvig spent the weekend at my flat.
And as usual she left a trail of sketch paper behind her.
Like this one. Enjoy!

Roy Crane goodies

2011-05-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

Here's some "bonus stuff" for those of you who bought the Buz Sawyer book mentioned in the last post.

The drawing below is simply listed as "promotional art" in the book and reproduced sans the gray shading.
Actually this was used in the 1946 promotional book "Famous Artists and Writers of King Features Syndicate". The theme for the illustrations in the book was "the future" and we can find Snuffy Smith on the moon, a Don Flowers girl riding a rocket ship etc.
In that context it's easier to understand Crane's drawing. It shows what to expect from the new strip in the future.

We also find an illustration from the Cartoonists cook book out of context in the preface. Here it is complete with the menue and the reason why Buz is using chopsticks. Enjoy!

/Joakim.

PS. If the publisher wants these scans for publication I'd by happy to provide them.

Buz Sawyer review

2011-05-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

Buz Sawyer - "The war in the Pacific" was released by Fantagraphics earlier this year.
Now, Roy Crane is one of my all time favorite comic strip artist and Fantagraphics is one of my favourite publishers. Crane is the master artist and storyteller and Fantagraphics have a great history of publishing fine books.
What could go wrong? Well, something obviously did here.

The first thing that made me worried about the project, even before the book was published, was that Rick Norwood was announced as the editor. He's probably a nice guy (I don't know him) but he's got a track record of reprinting classic strips in bad resolution taken from bad sources in his magazine "Comics Revue".
When the book was published I started to ask around if anyone who had actually seen the book could tell me what the reproduction quality was like. The answers got me worried and I put off buying the book. But Roy Crane is Roy Crane and I knew someone at FB must have given the book thumbs up before it went to press so ... I picked it up.

The preface by Jeet Heer is really well written. (As is everything I've read by Jeet!)
But boy, am I glad I didn't sell my old Dragon Lady Press and Pioneer reprints!
The quality of the repinted strips varies a lot in this book. Most of them are muddy. Both as a result of bad source material (Guess it's because they didn't find a good set of strips where the bottom hadn't been cut. Many of the strips from this era comes in two formats where the cut version seems to be more common.) and too low resolution when scanned I guess.
On the other hand there are a few pages that looks as if they are scanned straight from proofs. Other seems to be scanned in high resolution but from bad sources.
I wonder if a combination of high quality cut strips and not so good full strips could have been possible? With someone in charge who knows his/her way with photoshop I guess that would have been the ideal way.

Here's a sample of what I mean. Just so you can see for yourself.
Left image taken from the old DLP edition and the right from the FB book.

You can see what the low res scanning has made with the lines in the background.

This panel also contains an odd piece of restoration.

Top panel from the DLP edition and the bottom from the FB book.

Compare Sultry's torso in the two images. Ouch, she's been cut.

Another example of editing. Notice Buz' clothes where details dissappear in the new book. I wonder if the editor checked the old DLP editions at all when restoration was made?

If you take another look at the images above you might notice something else too.
And this is an even more disturbing problem than using bad source material and low res scans, I think.
More on that below next sample.

Again we can see how much better reproduction can be.
About the problem I mentioned earlier. Can you see it in the images above?
Yes, the image has been "squashed". Probably to make the strip fit in neatly on the page instead of keeping the ratio. (Hard for me to explain this in english so it makes sense. But I hope most of you follow what I mean?)

Below we see the same images on thop of each other. The height is the same. (If you disregard that the left version is a short version.) As you can see the red/FB version is not as wide as the old version. Squash!

To sum things up: This could have been good, but it's not.
My suggestion is that FB stops this project before it goes too far, and that the editor and production team responsible for this mess is taken off the project. Then production can then resume when a team with knowledge on how to restore old comic strips has been found.

/Joakim.

PS. If proofs are needed, just ask and I'll try to help. Don't have access to the first years but large runs of late 40's and onwards.

SPX 2011

2011-05-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

[Edit: All of these books are now sold out. ]

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Stockholm together with Hedvig. Small Press Expo at Kulturhuset this weekend and we'll be selling newly printed stuff there.

Hope to see some of you there!

/J.

(The Unpublished) Barks Treasury pt. VI

2011-05-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

Barks fans Jörgen Malmsten and Patrick Fontaine both mailed me independently after I posted this drawing last week:

They supplied me with the image in color and after checking Peter Kyllings site I guess this actually is one of the 1996 - 97 drawings:
Misc 19 – "Every Man for himself".
If someone can confirm that would be nice.

First we have the image I got from Patrick:

And then the one I got from Jörgen:

As you can see they are quite similar but not the same. My guess is that the first is a preliminary version and the signed one is the finished piece.

(The Unpublished) Barks Treasury pt. VI

2011-04-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

To end this week of Barks drawings we have the final of the Misc drawings.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing them.

Misc 26 – "Tea time!"

It should be noted that the original art to Amateur Nite 4 – "Bad Hare Day" was recently added to the comicartfans gallery of Niels Larsen. Just click HERE to see it.

A complete listing of the published and unpublished "Treasury" images can be found at Peter Kylling's Barks site. It includes several other unpublished 1996 - 97 images. Just click HERE to see them.

Bonus: Some idea sketches for a few 1996 - 97 drawings.

(The Unpublished) Barks Treasury pt. V

2011-04-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Of the nine Money Bin drawings seven were published in the treasury book.
Here's number 8.

Bin 8 – "Hired worrier at tax time"

Bonus: Two idea sketches. The Timbuktu idea ended up in the Treasury book.

And here's another drawing. Was this one finished? I have a vauge memory if seeing it in color.
Don't know if this was one of the Treasury 1996 -97 drawings. (And I sure can't remember where on the net I picked up these "bonus drawings". Probably on eBay.)

Edit: See THIS post.

(The Unpublished) Barks Treasury pt. IV

2011-04-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

Barks made 12 drawings on the Subject "Great Adventures".
10 are in the Treasury book and the remaining two are presented below.

Great Adventures 11 – "In the far away and long ago"

Great Adventures 12 – "Maharajah for a day"

Bonus: Barks pencils for "Maharajah for a day".

(The Unpublished) Barks Treasury pt. III

2011-04-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

Misc. 25 – "Double rainbow day!"

Bonus: The invitation to Barks birthday celebration 1997.

(The Unpublished) Barks Treasury pt. II

2011-04-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

Misc. 24 – "I saw that nickel first!"

Bonus: Barks pencils for this piece.

Image taken from Jörn Legde's CAF gallery.

(The Unpublished) Barks Treasury pt. I

2011-04-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

Back in 1996-97 Carl Barks did a large amount of drawings in colored pencils. Forty of them were released in 1997 in the book Barks Treasury by Applewood Books.

Drawing from Barks Treasury. Image taken from outducks.

Now, what about the other drawings? They were sold to private collectors and I bet some of them will never be seen by other Barks fans again.
Barks himself seems to have kept a binder with copies of the drawings and last year some of these copies were sold. Fortunately I was able to get low res snapshots of a few. (Better to have some images in low resolution than none at all ...)
So without much further ado here's part one of what I call "(The Unpublished) Barks Treasury".
Enjoy!

Barks made 26 drawings labeled "Misc."
Four of them, 23-26, will appear here on the blog.

Misc. 23 – "Last call for the clan McDuck"

Moving day

2011-04-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Found this card among the stuff beeing thrown out when we moved our office a while ago.

Just couldn't stand see it going into the trash so I saved it. It's the front of a card that was sent out when Disney Consumer Products moved to avenue Montaigne in Paris. It looks like Ulrich Schröder artwork. (?) Who ever drew it I like it a lot. Good, clear staging and really nice inking.

New Barks-Jippes story!

2011-04-15T02:02:00.000-07:00

Fans of Carl Barks and Daan Jippes: Don't miss the easter issue of the Scandinavian DD weekly (Issue 15-16 in Sweden) as it features a brand new four page Gyro story, based on ideas by Barks from ca 1964 and written & drawn by Jippes!

The back and front of the sheet with Barks ideas.

Vintage ads

2011-04-09T11:15:00.001-07:00

Found a set of old comics related ads in a folder on my computer.
(I probably got them from eBay last year. If they are to be found on another website, let me know and I'll remove them.)
Enjoy!

Buster Brown 1903

Uncle Remus 1906

The Katzenjammer Kids 1914

Polly and her Pals 1915

Mutt and Jeff 1918

Ella Cinders 1929

Mickey Mouse 1937

Blondie

Li'l Abner

BC eh ... Harmon by Hart

E&S #8

2011-04-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

Just printed and the latest issue of Emma & Sara in the studio.
It will be released May 7 at Small Press eXpo in Stockholm. As usual we've only printed 30 copies that will be sold on a first come, first served basis at our table.
This issue covers all of the E&S pages made in 2008 and Hedvig has made a brand new cover.

Harvey Eisenberg and the Art of Running

2011-03-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

No one ever drew funny animal characters running through the air like Harvey Eisenberg did.
How can I best describe it? That he made them "weightless with speed", might be a fitting description.
His way of posing the arms and legs of the characters in a very special way while they were running made an impact on me as a kid, and I found it fascinating.
Here are a few examples to show what I mean. I hope you find them as inspiering as I do. :)

/Joakim.

Notice the way Eisenberg pushed the shoulder forward on Droopy here.

If you like the above you'll love the work of Oscar Martin.
The modern day master Tom & Jerry artist.
Make sure to check out his blog. Just click HERE!

Even More Russell Patterson Original Art

2011-03-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

La - di -da, what about another original Russell Patterson illustration from my collection?

Harry never got his Patterson illustration either.
I think I've said this before but ... there's more to come. ;)

Duckburg Art Gallery 2

2011-03-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

Apparently the first issue of Duckburg Art Gallery sold out before it was even printed. (Or at least that's what the seller claims, as the first issue was supposed to be printed April 1.)

On eBay you can find the second issue listed. If you have trouble finding it, it might be because it's listed under Uncanny X-Men ...
The price this time is $1250 compared to the $100 the first issue sold for.

The same seller also got two original Barks paintings for sale.
One of them contains "9 Disney characters" ... Hmm ...
Now I get it. Donald, Daisy, the three nephews, the car and the three characters on the license plate.

And the second is the "first appearence and the origin of Bark's Uncle Scrooge" ...

I wonder what the seller have up his sleeve for his next auctions?
(He also claims to have his name in the Fine Art of Donald Duck book. Who is this guy???)

More Russell Patterson Original Art

2011-03-20T05:11:00.000-07:00

Here's another drawing by Russell Patterson that I purchased this week.

Unfortunately the left part of the artboard has been cut. And as you can see it's signed, but I believe Dr. H. F. Koppe never got his drawing. Why? I'll get to that in a later post.

And there's a stamp on the back leading me to believe it was published in Life Magazine. Would like to get hold of a copy where this illustration was published. If you know wich issue to look out for, feel free to leave a comment.

And as I said before: there's more to come. ;)

Original Russell Patterson illustration art

2011-03-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Just picked up a nice Russell Patterson illustration.
It looks like it's from the 20's.
If anyone knows where and when it was published please let me know.

It should be noted that this illustration also appeared in
the "Art of Russell Patterson" book published a few years ago.

/Joakim.

PS. More RP to come. ;)

Auction day

2011-03-12T01:39:00.000-08:00

Don't forget that today is the day of the Stripkrant auction. So if you wanna grab some fine dutch comic art you better head over to http://bnsstripkrant.nl/ right away.

Tom and Jerry by Eisenberg

2011-03-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

I'm currently looking for an index covering the Our Gang issues featuring Tom and Jerry and all other titles where T&J appeared. If you have access to one and want to help, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. Doesn't matter if it isn't complete or if it doesn't cover a long run.
I need an overview of when stuff was first published and maybe also when they were reprinted for a project I'm working on.

And for your viewing pleasure, and as a thank you in advance, here are some nice pages by the great, great Harvey Eisenberg. Enjoy!

Update:
Do not miss the interview with Harveys son Jerry Eisenberg!
To be found on the Yowp blog! Just click HERE!
And there's even more on TAG blog!

Edit: If someone knows how to scan proofs with screentones (The dot pattern on Tom) the best way to avoid moire, please feel free to get in touch. 600 dpi turned out to not work that well, so I'll give 1200 dpi bitmap a shot. Any thoughts and help is welcomed.

New Lifestyle Magazine

2011-03-08T09:17:00.000-08:00

Image taken from eCopy, 2011.

Frank Robbins website

2011-03-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

Just got a mail from Robin Olin telling me that there's a new website devoted to Frank Robbins!
It's still beeing developed, but I'm looking forward to see more good stuff coming there soon.
Go check it out by clicking HERE.

Frank Robbins self portrait. Photo by Robin Olin.

"These top cartoonists" Part IV

2011-03-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

Should have posted these two bios when I posted other pages from the book "These top cartoonists tell how they create America's favorite comics" back in August last year. Somehow I must have forgotten that I scanned them.
Anyway, here are two pages on Leonard Starr and Alex Kotzky.
Enjoy!

Mickey Mouse in Death Valley

2011-03-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

It's now just a matter of months until MM "Race to Death Valley" will be realeased.
Fantagraphics has a BLAD for download to wet your appetite.
And check out CBR for some info from Gary Groth by clicking HERE.
For even MORE info see what David Gerstein has to say on Westfield Comics Blog.

Or ... pre-order from Amazon right away!

Duckburg Art Gallery

2011-02-27T09:01:00.000-08:00

Just saw this on eBay:

"The first Duckburg Art Gallery Catalogue . ship to Europe, China, Austrula, New York, Vietnam, all over the world. There will be over $501,000 worth of Carl Barks Painting pictured in this Catalogue. I will accept offers of $100 for each catalogue First Printing due out April 1st 2011 Printing limited to only 1000 each will be certifited and signed by me not Carl Barks"

Hmm ...

Barney Bear by Gil Turner

2011-02-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

Just gotta share this.
After reading all of Carl Barks "Barney Bear and Benny Burro" in the recently published book, it's a treat finding out that there were more good Barney stories made after he left the series.
Gil Turner, who wrote at least one of the Barney scripts illustrated by Barks, did a number of delightful BB & BB stories himself!
Just look at these three panels by Turner from T&J #65.

Wouldn't his stuff be worth to reprint? I sure think so. :)

Lille Rikard

2011-02-22T07:48:00.000-08:00

Spent the morning scanning and restoring old sunday pages. Got a batch of original "Lille Rikard" pages by Rune Andréasson on loan and prepared them for coloring by converting them to bitmap. However, lots of the gray areas will be missing when these pages are printed. No proofs has survived and the dot pattern has faded on the original boards.
Here's a sample of what the artwork looks like before it was converted.
(The inserted image is naturally not part of the page, but added in photoshop. )

BTW: The originals are fairly small. Less than A4 size!

The final, colored, pages will appear in Bamses äventyr #32 this spring.

The Disneyland Memorial Orgy

2011-02-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

I guess you've all seen the Disneyland Memorial Orgy by Wallace Wood?
If not, here it is:

It appeared in The Realist #74, May 1967. (Scan taken from the Realist site.)

Now, last week I was checking comicartfans.com when I stumbled upon a set of drawings by Frank Follmer. Click on his name to go to the website where loads of his artwork is beeing sold.

A quote from that site:
"He's been called the man who should have been the 10th old man. Or maybe he's the new Charlie Thorson or "Tex"
Henson. He's Frank Follmer, and a well-known dealer of cartoon-related items was selling his artwork at the San Diego Con. Frank Follmer was one of Disney’s greatest cartoonists. “Snow White” among all, is one of the most unforgettable characters Frank mainly developed."

10th old man? One of Disney's greatest cartoonists? Well, let's just say that I dont agree.
(OK. The guy was an a-m-a-t-e-u-r. How he could land a job at Disney in the 30's is beyond me. The owner of the Follmer site claims " I have a letter from Walt Disney archives signed by Robert Tieman the manager, that frank worked at Disney from April 12, 1937 to November 28, 1940. " I'd like to have that confirmed... )

Aaaaaanyway, this post is not about Frank Follmers artistic qualities but about the Disneyland Memorial Orgy.

The first image I saw on Comicartfans.com reminded me of the Wood piece.

And then I found another one, and another...

On the Frank Follmer page I found even more...

Now, the question is: Did Wood see one of Follmers pieces and simply "traced" it?
(Notice that the black and white Follmer piece is dated 1953.)
Why did Follmer do so many versions of it?
And why so long after he left Disney?
And most, most, most important: was nude Disney characters a turn on for Follmer?

Edit: Don't miss Ron Harris post

Frank Follmer's Naughty Disney

BNS Stripkrant 2011

2011-02-10T13:13:00.000-08:00

Just got a mail from Dutch comic artist Alex van Koten!
Last year he and Gerben Valkema produced a free comic strip paper for the Dutch Comic-artists organisation BNS.
And this summer number 2 will be coming out.
But in order to make this possible ( To produce a free comic strip paper is expensive.) the Dutch artists have decided to organize an auction; Original comic strip art for sale.
So if you want to grab some great art by Dutch comic artists (You DO!) please take a look at their blog. New items added daily ...

http://bnsstripkrant.nl/

Here are a few samples of what has been posted so far:

Ulf Granberg & the Phantom 1976

2011-02-06T01:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a gem for Swedish fans of the Phantom.
An article about the editor Ulf Granberg and the Phantom, taken from "Rundsnack" 1/1976.
Enjoy!

Brotherhood of Billy Goats member 350373

2011-02-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

Remember the Barney Google "Brotherhood of Billy Goats" membership card I posted back in 2007? If not, check it out by clicking HERE.

Now, what did a member of this secret and mysterious brotherhood look like?

Wonder no more, cause you're about to find out.
Thanks to Terry Grotefeld who sent me a page from his father's photo album we now know who member 350373 was.

Take it away, Terry:

"My father was a member of the Brotherhood in Chicago in 1925, he was only 19 when he went from England to the USA and worked for Western Electric. He helped install the first talking pictures in America, I believe it was "The Jazz Singer" with Al Jolson."

"My father died in 1978 and his photo album had been safely tucked away and I decided to copy some of the photos for future generations to see.

He was in Chicago in 1925 till 1928, during the prohibition and the
Al Capone era. His brother Bill was with him and they took a long trip in a
very early car across America."

"[...] picture of my Father (on the left ) and
some friends all looking a bit like Chicago gangsters."

Thanks for sharing the images of your father, Terry!

OKMNX!

Live action "Up" from 1965

2011-01-30T23:46:00.000-08:00

This is just too good to not be re-posted here.

(Thanks to Cartoonbrew. To see it on YouTube, click HERE.)

Schjerfbeck 1945

2011-01-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

Beeing a fan of Helene Schjerfbeck's art (Who isn't?) I was thrilled to see a piece on the Swedish version of Antiques Roadshow, Antikrundan.
It turned out to be a painting from 1945 that I've never seen before.
Bought a long time ago and never re-sold.
I just had to make a few screen grabs of it. Enjoy!

And while I'm at it, here are af few more seldom seen pieces:

The above image was found on Bosses blogg.

What A Nerve! 1967

Hmm... The last one isn't a Schjerfbeck but a Barks.
Kinda cute anyway.

Kley and Fawcett

2011-01-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

Got the following news from Ulrich Merkl:
"From Feb. 17 to May 1 there will be a wonderful Heinrich KLEY exhibition in München/Germany:
http://www.villastuck.de/ausstellungen/2011/kley/index.htm

It has been curated by world’s no.1 KLEY expert Alexander Kunkel, author of this brand-new & definitive KLEY biography:
http://www.amazon.de/Heinrich-Kley-1863-1945-Leben/dp/3897396505/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295279476&sr=8-1
Apart from more than one hundred original KLEY drawings, you’ll also find selected top pieces by Klinger, Stuck, Kubin, various Simplicissimus artists, and artwork from Disney cartoons.
There will be a catalog with 120 colour illustrations (25 Euros).
Please spread the word about this wonderful effort!"

And from Bill Peckmann I got the word that Manuel Auads Robert Fawcett book is hot off the presses!
This is a book I personally have been waiting for. Can't wait to get it!

Check out at http://www.auadpublishing.com

Puzzle VIII - The Answer

2011-01-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

Finally, here's the answer to the puzzle.
Guess this one's for the harcore Barks fans only. ;)

It all began with an auction on eBay earlier this winter.
The seller offered this drawing for sale:

An unpublished cover rough by Carl Barks! The father of the seller had gotten it from Barks in the 70's.

Notice the circled X on the drawing. I'd say that it means the idea was sold or at least approved by / or sent to Western. Now, there never was any cover like this during the late 50's or early 60's. (The gag covers ended with US 44 so it was most likely made before that. And the proportions of Scrooge also looks like the late 50's/early 60's era.) I guess he felt the gag was too weak or hard to get and filed it away.

But what if Barks had finished the drawing and it had appeared on a cover in 1959?

I took Barks layout and made a finished ink drawing based on it.
Then I scanned the cover of US 28 and used the logo from that cover.

I used the colors from US 28 and added them to the new one.

And finally I did some photoshop magic to make it look old. :)

Thanks for the feedback I got on this one. I got some good guesses from people all over the world, but Are was the only one who guessed 100% right.
I had some fun doing this this puzzle of "The Barks Cover that Never Was" and I hope you have enjoyed it too.

/Joakim.

Puzzle VII

2011-01-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

Just got the right answer from Are Myklebust!
He guessed the exact right answer. Well done!
Other people have been giving me some good guesses,
but Are really nailed it.

Before letting the rest of you know, here are the two final pieces.

The answer will follow later this week.