Caltex98

I't's beautiful. Too bad I never got around to ask him for a commission myself. Very true!

Thanks to Alex Johnson, who tipped me off, I was able to add these three consecutive Rick O'Shay strips by Stan Lynde from July 1971 to my collection: They are from the adventure "Bearcat" which ran from July 5th to September 25th and must be considered an early example of criticism of the modern way of life and its impact on the environment. Even though there was some trouble with the payment (which was returned twice and made me lose about $50 on the exchange rate) I am still *very* pleased with the purchase. Stan Lynde is a household name in Sweden because both Rick O'Shay and Latigo were published in the bi-weekly Phantom comic book for years. Lynde also created two comic strips exclusively for that book, Chief Sly Fox and Bad Bob. They have never been printed in english (I think). Click on the pictures and you will see larger scans in my CAF gallery. (Useless fact: I carried them back to Sweden wrapped around a bottle of Cruzan Black Strap in my suitcase. Worked very well.)

Archie #649 contained a story by Tom DeFalco which took place in an alternate universe where Riverdale High somehow resembles Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Jughead made it up as a bedtime story for Jellybean). The cover now resides in my Bill Galvan-collection: Inked by the always underappreciated Bob Smith. When will he get the recognition he deserves? Bill was kind enough to include a signed copy of the actual comic in the deal. Click on the picture to see a larger scan in my CAF-gallery.

The rather controversial "Occupy Riverdale"-story in Archie #635 is probably as edgy as Archie is ever going to be. Beautifully drawn by Gisèle Lagacé and inked with expertise by Rich Koslowski this story has been on my want list ever since it was published in the summer of 2012. Thanks to Rich I was able to pick up the entire issue (except for the cover which is strictly digital) at this years San Diego Comic-Con. That was one of those moments of utter bliss! Especially since Gisèle otherwise works almost exclusively in digital format so not much of her art exists outside of her computer. Rich graciously signed every one of them. All the 20 gorgeous pages can be viewed in this CAF-gallery. Here is the story's writer Alex Segura holding them (at Archie Comics booth): He signed some selected pages, not the entire bunch. I brought more OA home from the U.S. & San Diego so I will post it in my CAF as soon as I get around to scan it. And speking of Comic-Con: Too bad I found out about the Thursday dinner too late to be able to attend. It would have been fun, especially since Alex J was there. Well, maybe another year...?

First half of the lead story from Sabrina the Teenage Witch #26: Pencilled by Dan DeCarlo and inked by Jon D'Agostino (who probably was one of the best inkers working for Archie Comics at that time). A nice title page by Terry Beatty from Ms. Tree #33 (signed by writer Max Collins): I like the clever way this page is built up. The narration and word ballons helps guide your eyes and the way the picture moves from close-up to full body (pun intended) feels completely natural. Click on the pictures to see larger versions in my CAF gallery.

A friend and fellow OA collector attended London Super Comic Con the previous weekend and came on such good terms with Emanuela Lupacchino that he was able to have her make this for me: A portrait of Sabrina Spellman in the early sixties, showing off her then ultramodern bouffant hairdo and extremely long eyelashes. To say that I am very pleased with this is an understatement. (thumbs u Click on the image to see a slightly larger version in my CAF gallery.

Even though the Modesty Blaise strip itself was discontinued in July 2002 Romero is still drawing her on the covers of the swedish monthly comic book Agent X9 which features reruns of her adventures in every issue. This rather recent image is a good example of what they look like. I like both the way Modesty is shown in a very elegant pose and that the mammoth in the iceberg is rather subtle but meticulously inked with hundreds of small, sharp lines. If you take a look in my Romero gallery on CAF you will also be treated to a preliminary sketch which shows just how skimpy her bikini bottom was before Agent X9 editor an fellow OA aficionado Germund von Wowern asked Romero to make it more suitable for the cover of a newsstand magazine... (Click on the pictures to get there.)

Congratulations! Very nice!

Thanks guys! The artwork of Barreto is still very affordable considering its quality.

Santa Claus delivered seven nice new additions to my Eduardo Barreto gallery, among them a two-page spread from Robin Annual #6 I have been itching for ever since I saw it in print for the first time in 1997. There is another two-pager from Mike Danger #5, a page from the Elseworlds story Scar of the Bat and four pages from the mini-series Indiana Jones and the Sargasso Pirates. Due to the fact that Barreto used zipatone/craft-tint for shading when he drew that story they look much better in black and white than they did in color in the actual book. This technique gives the art the desirable old adventure strip-look. Click on the picture to get to my Barreto gallery on CAF.

I finally got around to scan all the sketches and commissions I brought back from the International Gothenburg Book Fair last month: Everything but the drawings by Don Rosa and Peter Madsen (one of them) can be viewed in this gallery on CAF. I love them all, but I am especially pleased that I managed to coax one of her very rare convention commissions from Hedvig Häggman-Sund. She created her own interpretation of how my favorite teenage witch and her feline familiar looked back in 1962. Great, that is! Check out more of Hedvig's stuff in her DeviantArt-gallery. Don Rosa had kept himself busy, preparing drawings for all the attending guests at the Saturday donaldistic dinner. A very welcome and unexpected treat! I was lucky to get one of "Glittering" Goldie O'Gilt in her heyday. I also included additional images of the artists showing their work.

I finally got around to scan all the sketches I brought home from this years Comic-Con in San Diego: They can be viewed in this gallery on CAF. I also included photos of the artists performing their tasks.

Some nice additions this week: A page with Guy & Tora by Joe Staton and Terry Beatty from Guy Gardner #4. A small note in the left margin says "OO-EE SHE'S CUTE!". Can't say that I disagree... A package from Montevideo, Uruguay (a first for me) contained this: Two pages by the in my opinion very underrated Eduardo Barreto. The first one is from the Elseworlds story Scar of the Bat, and the second one is from Robin Annual #6 from the year 1997 when DC had the theme "pulp heroes" for their annuals. Click on the pictures to see them slightly larger and better scanned in my CAF gallery

Bill Galvan had recently made some imaginary golden age covers for his own amusement so when I asked him the rhetorical question "If the original Black Canary had gotten her own comic book, what would the cover of the first issue look like?" he immediately went to work with great enthusiasm. A rough pencil sketch reached med a day and a half later, and I urged him to go along with it (but lose the black mask which by this time, the early fifties, was long gone). Bill then finished the pencils. He proceeded to ink it and add the logotype, price and date to make it look authentic. And as the frosting of the cake added the bright colors typical of the time period together with some "aging" to make the illusion of an actual comic book complete. To say that I am absolutely delighted with the result is a monumental understatement. (Now if I only could read the comics within...) (The image is linked to my CAF gallery.) Another fine example of Bills retro work can be seen on page 224 (the last page before the inside of the back cover) in this years SDCC souvenir book (a celebration of 75 years of Superman). EDIT: I might add that those planning to attend Salt Lake Comic Con next month will have a chance to meet Bill, who will be there as a special guest Thursday & Friday, and have a look at his artwork up close.

Romitaman had this nice splash page from the Blackhawk feature in Action Comics Weekly #604 for sale: Rick Burchett is in my opinion a very underrated artist. I hope that the upcoming Lady Sabre hardcover will make more people discover his genius. In this page the influence from Milton Caniff's colorful villains is rather obvious.

Well, since I had Jenn sign the cookie bag I never ate them and now they are probably stale, but I will try to whip a up batch of my own as soon as possible so I may get back to you on that. But judging from the recipe (and the looks) they should be delicious! Thom still had some of the OA he made for his prints left. I especially like the ones from Miami & Detroit.

I have started to scan the OA I brought back from Comic-Con. The Bill Galvan variant cover for Kevin Keller #8 : Kind of an odd format since it wasn't published as a wraparond or fold-out. Because real OA pages from Thom Zahler's Love & Capes are scarce (due to the fact that most of it is computergenerated) I jumped at the opportunity to add this to my collection: Thom sweetened the deal by including the actual print and a couple of the cookies mentioned. The images are linked to my CAF gallery. (More to follow.)

Well, thank you! I'm quite pleased with it myself. Here is another commission by Jeff. The idea this time was to paraphrase Mort Drucker's legendary poster art for the movie American Graffiti, but with Archie & the gang in the starring parts: My friend Hedvig Haggman-Sund then added some color to it: A better scan can be viewed in my CAF gallery. According to Jeff, drawing all the characters (18 in all, if you count Hot Dog and Archie's 1916 Ford Model T) was quite tedious even though he thought it was a fun idea, and he said that he will probably never take on such a big task again. 15 months from inquiry until I was holding the artwork in my own hands...

My latest commission from Jeff Shultz (the idea was for him to mimic David Perry's pin-up photography): Probably a late July afternoon at a yet-to-be-defined New England dragstrip in the summer of 1966. The artwork (in greater size), together with the preliminary sketch and pictures of the real dragster and the pages from the 1966 issues of Betty & Veronica where the girls wore the outfits originally, can be viewed at my comicartfans gallery.