Caltex98

The the third and last of Bill Galvan's hommages to John Severin's illustrations in Cracked!: 35 characters enjoying a lazy day on the boardwalk. Special appearance by Harleen Frances Quinzel and her gang of Harleys. The size is a huge 24"x18". Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Shultz approached me with some roughs of unused cover ideas and wondered if I wanted him to finish any of them? I liked this one the best: For a cover there is quite a lot of activity going on here. Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery.

After some minor hassle with the seller this page arrived: Page 10 from Lady Killer #4 which shows that Joëlle Jones knows her way around a 1958 Chevrolet Apache Fleetside pick-up and enjoys drawing cars just as much as she does vintage fashion. (I already owned the page that comes next.) Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The the third and last of Bill Galvan's hommages to John Severin's illustrations in Cracked!: 35 characters enjoying a lazy day on the boardwalk. Special appearance by Harleen Frances Quinzel and her gang of Harleys. The size is a huge 24"x18". Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Shultz approached me with some roughs of unused cover ideas and wondered if I wanted him to finish any of them. I liked this one the best: For a cover there is quite a lot of activity going on here. Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery.

A commission I picked up from Dan Parent in July. I figured Sabrina Spellman needed some cool new way of transport (the broom is unpractical at times) and what could be cooler than my own Fiat Barchetta Spider? I'm not sure she would be content with being confided to the passenger seat, though. Click on the picture for a larger scan (and picture of the actual car) in my CAF gallery.

I am a little behind showing my modest new OA acquisitions, but here is a pin up of the main character from Dan Cooney's gangster melodrama The Tommy Gun Dolls, Frankie Broadstreet, I picked up in San Diego in July: It was the template for the promotional enamel pin so I suppose it counts as "published"? Click on the picture for a somewhat larger scan in my CAF gallery.

Probably that Donald Duck & the Phantom was (and is) two of the bestselling comic books over here.

As I have stated before: I. Never. Sell. So of course I still have my first OA (framed and hanging on the wall): In 1984 I bought this cover for a swedish arts trade publication from the artist, my friend Johan Andreasson.

As always, a great time was had by all. And what a turnout it was this year! Thank you, Brian!

I never sell anything. And should I get to know that someone wants something I own I'm inclined to hold on to it just out of spite.

Last weekend it was the Stockholm International Comics Festival, and besides hanging out with old and new friends, enjoying interesting panel discussions and in general having a good time I also got this addition to my sketchbook. When my friend Hedvig (enormously talented) volunteers to make a contribution in the sketchbook one has to come up with a terrific idea on the spot. I have always wanted to see how she handles DC Comics resident super magician, Zatanna Zatara, and as she also is an expert on drawing funny animals I thought of Amanda Conner's cover from Zatanna issue 12. What is Zatanna's reaction when she realizes what has happened? Hedvig disappeared carrying my sketchbook and returned a couple of hours later with this: Click on the picture for a larger scan on my CAF. I am sure Amanda doesn't mind. BTW, Hedvig makes way too few comics since her main source of income is work in animation and gaming, mostly character design.

Finally had the opportunity to pick up these four pages by Chynna Clugston-Flores that had been waiting for me ever since I had to cancel my trip to the U.S. this summer (due to the Scandinavian Airlines pilot strike): Blue Monday: Absolute Beginners #4 page 10. Blue Monday: Absolute Beginners #4 page 11. Scooter Girl #6, page 5. Scooter Girl #6, page 17. And a small bonus since we had discussed the difference between swedish and californian heatwaves: A suffering Bleu Finnegan. Click on the pictures to see larger scans in my CAF gallery.

Too bad I didn't know you were in Baltimore since my buddy Alan spent six hours in the Simonson line on Saturday (and I checked in with him from time to time to see how things progressed). We must have been mere feet from each other without knowing it! Oh well, maybe some other time...

Because of the Scandinavian Airlines pilot strike I had to cancel my participation in the San Diego Comic-con 2022 at the last minute. This was of course a big disappointment but recieving this artwork in the mail a month later almost made up for that mishap. I had asked my friend (and fellow OA collector) Alan D. to get the Comic-con cover variant of Betty & Veronica Friends Forever Summer Surf Party by Dan Parent, celebrating Sabrina the Teenage Witch's 60th anniversary and in connection with that mentioned the fact that me and her are the same age. So unbeknownst to me he arranged for this special greeting card drawn by Scott Shaw! and signed by some of my favorite people in the industry which I always look forward to meet: Jimmy Palmiotti, Scott Eder, Amanda Conner, Terry Dodson and the aforementioned Scott and Dan. And Alan himself of course! Me being surprised is an understatement! A big thank you to Alan for organizing this special treat!

I walked away from this years edition of Stockholm International Comics Festival (back IRL after being digital only for two years) with two sketches in the book and one commission in the works. Swedish comic genius (and accomplished blues musician) Patrik Norrman drew his characters James Hund (international playboy) and his sidekick Lieutenant Barskeback (very trigger happy). Hanna Stromberg who currently is having great success with her comic strip Our House (think Hi and Lois for the 2020:s) drew swedish Donald Duck-translator and founder of the Swedish Donaldistic Society Stefan Dios (which she has done many times before). He is obviously not amused (Caption: "Why do I have to be drawn all the tine?"). I asked Oscar Hjelmgren if he could elaborate on his previous interpretation of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, maybe a little cheesecake perhaps? Time was short because the birth of his first kid was scheduled just a couple of weeks later, but he managed to squeeze it in before baby boy Astor was squeezed out.This is what I recieved in the mail: A large (297 x 420 mm) acrylic painting of Harley at the beach, playing Frogwhack. Click on the pictures for larger scans in my CAF gallery.

A page from Harley Quinn #14 (original series) where Terry Dodson shows off his understanding how real people move and act. And on top (literally) of this is Rachel Dodson's ink brush magic. Harley in civil duds runs into Jimmy Olsen in an elevator. Click on the picture for a slightly larger scan in my Terry Dodson gallery on CAF.

When an artist approaches you and say that they want to do a hommage to John Severin's Cracked two-page spreads with a lot of interacting characters you just have to go along. Here is the Spellman Halloween costume party by Bill Galvan: I think there are almost 40 characters counting the portraits on the wall... And while he was on a roll, Bill continued with the Blossoms' christmas party: Besides the usual gang he included a couple of characters from Freshman Year by him and the late Batton Lash, and over by the stereo you can spot a couple of notorious party crashers from Hoppers, California... Click on the pictures for bigger scans in my Bill Galvan CAF gallery.

This was an unusual request for a commission: Ever since I first tried Sophia Loren's recipe for tomato sauce from her first cookbook In Cucina Con Amore,1971 (Eat With Me, english pocket edition from 1980) I have stuck to it like gospel. And since the description is not written like a regular recipe but more like Ms Loren describing the process in conversation, I was thinking maybe this could be made into a comics page with six or eight panels to illustrate Ms Loren telling it to the reader while showing hands on how it is done. (Nigella, eat your heart out!) Bill Galvan kindly obliged (but confessed it was kind of hard to break the recipe down into singular panels and deciding what to show) and this is the result of his efforts. Looks like a Sunday comics page (down to the coloring). I can easily see this as a syndicated strip since there are lots of recipes written in the same way in this book. And I dare everyone to try the recipe, it makes a delicious tomato sauce! Click on the picture to see larger scans of both the finished pencils and the colored print-out in my CAF-gallery. That way the instructions can actually be read!

This one got stuck in the customs almost as long as the journey across the Atlantic: This hommage to the Curt Swan cover of Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #1 from 1958 is the brainchild of Jeff Shultz. He thought it out and suggested it as an idea for a commission and I just had to go along with it. He also convinced Jack Morelli to design the logo and do the word balloons which added a lot of authenticity. My favourite teenage witch and Superman! This is a comic I'd like to read if someone is willing to write & draw it. Click on the picture to see a slightly larger scan in my CAF gallery.

When Jeff Shultz did the huge commission The Archies in the Summer of '69 for me in 2014 I thought that the four snapshots in it would make great individual commissions by themselves. So a while ago I asked Jeff if he had time to try this hand at this and he was kind to oblige. And here they are; Four pictures that chronicles The Archies rise to fame. In the first one we see the core five, Archie, Betty, Reggie, Veronica & Jughead, having a hootenanny around a campfire at the beach. The Archies doing a small club date at Pop's Choklit Shoppe playing for friends and locals. When The Archies singles starts to get airplay and are being bought by teenagers all over the country it is only natural that we see Sabrina & Harvey dance to Sugar, Sugar in Sabrina's room while an utterly annyoed Salem is pressing the paws to his ears in desperation. The last snapshot shows The Archies waving goodbye to their fans, Beatles style, as they depart to yet another tour date. Click on the pictures to see larger scans in my Jeff Shultz CAF gallery.

Fellow OA collector Joakim Gunnarsson recently tipped me off that the Italian Disney cartoonist Luciano Gatto from Venice is in good spirits (he was born in 1934) and makes absolutely wonderful commissions for his fans if he likes the idea. As he is one of my favorites among the Italians after Romano Scarpa (who he started out inking) and Luciano Bottaro, and the first whose style I learned to recognize, I of course jumped at the opportunity. With the invaluable help of Italian-speaking friends (here it is an advantage to live in a city with lot of descendants of italian immigrants who came her after the war looking for work) the Google Translate language was polished to something that should be understandable and an inquiry was emailed away. The idea was pretty obvoius: A scene inspired by his story "Zio Paperone e la duplice alleanza" from Topolino #380, 1963 featuring Magica de Spell in one of her earliest italian outings! Gatto is one of those who has a very special aptitude for making Magica appear from her best (worst?) side. Either he is underemployed or he really liked the idea because the same evening came the news that he would give it a try and already had some ideas how he wanted to design the scene. The next day I had a very tight sketch for approval in the mailbox, and since it exceeded my expectations by far, I gave him the green light (I was absolutely not allowed to send any payment before everything was ready and approved). Late the following evening a scan of the finished image arrived and it left nothing to be desired. After a few days of waiting, I was able to pick it up at my UPS package drop-off point exactly seven days after I sent my request. I have never had a commission executed and delivered so quickly before! A very pleasant transaction indeed! It did turn out really great (the size is approximately 25 x35 cm): Magica is furious about the development of events, Donald and the kids quite frightened and Uncle $crooge calmly smug in the certainty that he has made her plans go awry once again. Gatto posted *the entire* comic story along with some comments on his facebook if you like to see what looks like. Considering that Magica here had been around for less than two years since her debut in 1961 I think Gatto has "got" her character really well. If you are nitpicking Magica's raven is not featured in the comic, but it was not an option to leave him out of the picture. Click on the image to see a larger scan (and the pencil sketch) in my CAF gallery. By the way, it may be a good idea keeping an eye on Gatto's facebook as he posts many of his drawings there on a regular basis. A while ago, for example, he compiled some of them into a coloring book for children who are bored with the Italian corona strategy so that their parents can print it out for their amusement. If anyone else would like a commission from his drawing board he can be contacted through his facebook page. And here is how he sees himself as a cartoon character ("gatto" means "cat" in italian):

In the 1970's when I sporadically bought the swedish James Bond comic book I always felt let down if the adventure had Yaroslav Horak as the artist instead of John McLusky which I considered THE James Bond artist. But when Titan Books started their reprint series of the James Bond comic strip in the early 2000's (with considerably better reproduction quality) I found that I had to reconsider. Horak was a master of the action sequence and and I can't think of another artist which has the same use of bold contrasts between black and white. So even if don't own any OA by him (yet) I can definitely say that I now enjoy reading his stuff.

In 2020 there were barely enough additions to my collection to make a full entry, but here they are: Published/Unpublished Comic Book Splashes, Title Pages Mikael Grahn - Svenska Serier 5/1980 p3 - Dix Dogfight Published/Unpublished Commissions/Recreations Bill Galvan - Archie's Pals 'n' Gals meets Binky's Buddies #1 - the cross-over that never was Megan Levens - Elvira and her Macabre Mobile Megan Levens - Margot Robbie IS Harley Quinn! Unpublished Sketch Covers/Convention Sketches Don Rosa - The Peeweegah chief

Not many art purchases this year but at least I have kept Megan Levens busy with commissions. And since she (as many artists) suffered from a significant lack of income due to the cancelled convention circuit it seemed like a better way to spend my funds. Margot Robbie as the one and only Harleen Frances Quinzel a.k.a. Harley Quinn in the movie Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) was a totally pitch perfect performance! Just like she had walked out of the comic books and onto the screen. Megan Levens share my opinion, and I think it shows in this beautifully rendered commission of Ms. Robbie as Harley on rollerskates and with her iconic mallet slung over her shoulder. Click on the picture for link to a bigger scan on CAF. Since Megan Levens knows her way around a "Squarebird" (the nickname for the 1958-1960 Ford Thunderbird) because it is the daily driver of the witches in her and Kate Leth's comic Spell On Wheels, she was my first choice for a commission of Elvira and her Macabre Mobile (a 1959 coupé with the roof removed and customized by the late, great George Barris). Again, click on the picture for link to a bigger scan on CAF.

Absolutely amazing, Alex! I'm impressed (to say the least).

Not many art purchases this year but at least I have kept Megan Levens busy with commissions. And since she (as many artists) suffered from a significant lack of income due to the cancelled convention circuit it seemed like a better way to spend my funds. Margot Robbie as the one and only Harleen Frances Quinzel a.k.a. Harley Quinn in the movie Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) was a totally pitch perfect performance! Just like she had walked out of the comic books and onto the screen. Megan Levens share my opinion, and I think it shows in this beautifully rendered commission of Ms. Robbie as Harley on rollerskates and with her iconic mallet slung over her shoulder. Click on the picture for link to a bigger scan on CAF. Since Megan Levens knows her way around a "Squarebird" (the nickname for the 1958-1960 Ford Thunderbird) because it is the daily driver of the witches in her and Kate Leth's comic Spell On Wheels, she was my first choice for a commission of Elvira and her Macabre Mobile (a 1959 coupé with the roof removed and customized by the late, great George Barris). Again, click on the picture for link to a bigger scan on CAF.

Bill Galvan is a big horror aficionado which came in handy when I decided the Mistress of the Dark should get Halloween off and let my favorite teenage witch guest host her show: Issue 146-147 of Archie & Friends had the two-part Twilight-spoof "Twilite" in them and here are Bill's pencils for the cover art: Look what he inserted in Veronica's hair... "X" means "black", BTW.