Happy Halloween!

More pumpkin action from Bernie Wrightson. Scan of the original art and the published comic Secrets of Haunted House #5, January 1976.

Pumpkin Guy

Since it is almost Halloween, here is an early Bernie Wrightson drawing of a guy with a pumpkin.

A Classic Witch

Illustration by Norman Price for Liberty magazine.

Giant Halloween Fun

Good times with Little Lulu, Witch Hazel, Tubby, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in these Halloween themed Dell Giants.



October 1960.




October 1961.




October 1956.




October 1953.

She'll Put A Spell On You!

Sexy witch by Dave Stevens. Seduction of the Innocent 3-D #1, October 1985.

Gothic Mysteries, or: Mystery Gothics

Not really comic book or fantasy art related, but here's a couple pieces of original art I got yesterday:




The Winds of Night, by Anne Maybury. Ace Books, 1963. Unknown artist.




Unknown book, unknown artist, unknown everything. Anyone have any ideas? The image below is on the back of the painting. I've tried searching for Rickover Plot, McHover Plot, lots of combinations. It is 20" x 30," gouache on board.




This Just In (10/24/09): The Nichovev Plot by Nick Carter!

Spirit of Halloween

More Halloween fun with Will Eisner in this Spirit page from 1947.

Women Outlaws

True Stories of Famous Western Gun Gals!



Women Outlaws #1, July 1948.




Women Outlaws #2, September 1948.




Women Outlaws #3, November 1948.




Women Outlaws #4, January 1949.




Women Outlaws #5, March 1949.




Women Outlaws #6, May 1949.




Women Outlaws #7, July 1949.




Women Outlaws #8, September 1949.

True Confession: Betty and Veronica

I have a confession to make. I bought the original art to an Archie Comics' story.

I used to collect original art, then I got interested in other things and it got too expensive. Now that I've been looking around at some lately, it's gotten really expensive. Me and a friend were lamenting back in the 1980's we would see original art for sale for $10 a page and wouldn't get it. Now we look back and think "Hell, a Superman page for $10, who cares if the art isn't that great, it's Superman! Only $10! Why didn't we grab it?"

So, I saw this Betty & Veronica story for $48 (less than $10 a page!) and thought what the hell. I mostly associate Archie comics with going to the dentist when I was a kid. This one is from a bit later, 1992. It has all the classic elements of an Archie, Betty and Veronica story. Hell, it's even called "The Triangle." I like the panel of Veronica all pissed off at the bottom of page 2, and page 4 is pretty fun with the phone action and the pictures of Archie by the table. All these stories are the same, and I think they really are written by a computer.

For your reading pleasure: "The Triangle," pencils by Dan Parent, inks by Rudy Lapick. From a 1992 issue of Betty and Veronica.

Brinke Stevens

Here's some pictures of Brinke Stevens. People seem to like these for some reason.

Space Giants!

A couple of Dell Giants with a space theme.




Dell Giant #27, October 1959.




Dell Giant #43, May 1961.

A MAD Halloween

Start getting warmed up for Halloween with this Frank Kelly Freas cover for Mad #59, cover dated December 1960.

San Diego Comic Con, 1985.

Below are some pictures from the San Diego Comic Con in 1985. It's weird looking at these pictures, I really don't have many memories of this convention. I remember Frank Miller was there, but we were kind of over him at that point and the line was huge to get autographs. The only pros I really recall meeting were Harvey Pekar and Rick Geary. I'm sure there were others. I have much more vivid memories of when I attended in 1987, but didn't take any pictures that year. Go figure.




Some Samurai looking guy and I'm not sure who that is supposed to be next to him.




A couple of guys dressed like pirates (I guess).




Art dealer Albert Moy. Love that Badtime Stories cover behind him.




The Gecks. I'm not sure what that was, maybe a band. We kept seeing this guy around. Scott Parrish on the right.




We called this guy "Captain Tape" because of the abundance of tape on his costume.




I'm not sure who this lady was supposed to be, but she liked having her picture taken and we liked photographing her.




L to R: Daredevil, Green Lantern, The Black Cat




The worst Flaming Carrot costume in the world.


Below: some views of the main dealers' room.

It Really Happened!

It Really Happened #3, 1944. Alex Schomburg cover.




It Really Happened #4, 1944. Alex Schomburg cover.




It Really Happened #6, 1946. Alex Schomburg cover.




It Really Happened #11, 1947. Alex Schomburg cover.

Doctor Doolittle in the Moon

Written and illustrated by Hugh Lofting. Lippincott & Co, 1928.

I picked this up for cheap at the flea market a couple weeks ago and just fell in love with these illustrations. These aren't even half of the illustrations, there is an illustration every three or four pages in the book. Sometimes it looks like he is illustrating random sentences from the book, the randomness of it is one of the things that cracks me up.

The drawings remind of James Thurber at first glance. Like Thurber and Gary Larson, I love how he can put so much expression in a face with just a dot for an eye and line for a mouth. Particularly in the renderings of Polynesia the Parrot.

Enjoy!