John Severin's Lewis & Clark

The Adventures of Lewis and Clark was part of the "Step-Up" series of children's books published by Random House. This volume, published in 1968, was illustrated by John Severin. Other books in this series were illustrated by Jack Davis, Angelo Torres, and George Evans. Here's the cover for the Lewis and Clark book and a selection of Severin's many illustrations in the book.

John Severin, 1921 - 2012

Veteran comic book artist John Severin died on February 12 at the age of 90. Severin worked for just about every comic publisher and drew comics in just about any genre. His gritty and realistic style made him especially suited to war and western comics such as EC's legendary Frontline Combat and western titles like Marvel's Kid Colt Outlaw. He was one of the original artists for Mad and enjoyed a long career working for Cracked magazine.

John Severin was an extremely skilled and consistent artist, and has left with a wonderful legacy of beautifully rendered artwork.

Below is a moodily colored (probably by his sister Marie) collaboration with Will Elder from Frontline Combat #8 (September 1952.

Below that is some more samples of Severin's work.



















Annie Oakley #11, June 1956.




Tomb of Dracula #2, May 1972.






Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos Annual #6, August 1970.





Cracked #111, September 1973.




Unknown, scanned from Dark Age artzine, 1982.




Lord of the Rings illustration, scanned from Trumpet #12, 1981.





"Creepy's Loathsome Lore: Witchcraft," Creepy #10, August 1966.

Dark Age: A Collection of Fantasy Art

Dark Age is an art zine published in 1982 by Dark Age Productions. I think I got mine in the mid-1980's by mail order from Bud Plant. It is 48 pages and printed on nice paper. In addition to the artists below, it contains a 12 page portfolio of Stephen Fabian illustrations. The magazine also has B&W work by Vaughn Bode, Wally Wood, Jeff Jones, Nestor Redondo, Howard Chaykin, and Reed Crandall.

Quite a lineup. The cover sucks. I think most of the artwork has been published before, but I've never seen the Wrightson dragon piece below before. That alone made it worth the $3.95 to me.






Bernie Wrightson




Michael Kaluta




Alex Nino




Bernie Wrightson




Roy Krenkel




John Severin




Back cover by Richard Corben.

Lord of the Rings by John Severin

Here's a Lord of the Rings illustration by John Severin. I'm not sure where it was originally published. This scan is from a magazine Trumpet #12, published Summer 1981. The issue also has an article on Franklin Booth and fiction by people I never heard of.

The American Civil War

Some illustrations with an American Civil War theme...





General William Tecumseh Sherman, by N.C. Wyeth, 1922.




Ulysses S. Grant, by N.C. Wyeth, 1922.




Illustrated envelope, by John Severin, 1942.




Illustration for "The Spy Wore Crinoline," American Weekly, April 24, 1955. Art by Walter Baumhofer




Abraham Lincoln by Jack Davis. From the book Meet Abraham Lincoln by Barbara Cary, 1965.

See the rest of Davis' exquisite illustrations for this book at Bostworld.

Creepy's Loathsome Lore

"Creepy's Loathsome Lore" was a feature that ran in early issues of Warren Publishing's Creepy magazine. The feature focused on true stories (or the legends behind them) of vampires, zombies, and other monsters. They were all written by Archie Goodwin and featured art by the best artists from Warren's stable at that time. Below are the "Loathsome Lore" features from Creepy #2 - 12. It did not run in the first issue.



"Vampires," art by Bob Lubbers. Creepy #2, April 1965.



"Ghouls," art by Jack Davis. Creepy #3, June 1965.



"The Living Dead," art by Al Williamson. Creepy #4, August 1965.



"Zombies," art by Angelo Torres. Creepy #5, October 1965.



"Mummies," art by Roy Krenkel. Creepy #6, December 1965.



"Werebeasts," art by Frank Frazetta. Creepy #7, February 1966.



"Vampires," art by Angelo Torres. Creepy #8, April 1966.



"Abominable Snowmen," art by Roy Krenkel. Creepy #9, June 1966.



"Witchcraft," art by John Severin. Creepy #10, August 1966.



"Rochester Rappings," art by John Severin. Creepy #11, October 1966.



"Sea Monsters," art by Dan Adkins. Creepy #12, December 1966.