Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

Bill Peckmann continues to introduce me to new and interesting artists. Here’s what he wrote abot Bernard Krigstein:

Comic book artist Bernard Krigstein, like animation artist Fred Mogubgub, was ahead of his time. In the 1950′s, Krigstein’s page and panel designs with their distinct breakdowns set the pace for comic book art that followed later in the century.

Here from the original 1955 comic is his most reprinted story, “Master Race”. It appeared in the first issue of EC Comics’ “Impact”. It will be followed by an excellent essay/examination of that story which appeared in the EC fanzine “Squa Tront”, in 1975.

This is the cover of “Impact” No. 1 drawn by Jack Davis.

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Here is an article which appeared in the fanzine, Squa Tront in 1975:

The Squa Tront cover

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- I’ve written about Dick Moores several times on this blog. He is one of my favorite comic strip artists. I knew him growing up with Gasoline Alley, which was about my favorite newspaper comic strip. Moores had taken over for Frank King, and the strip became something different and unique in his hands. There’s a roundness and a beautiful open quality to his character drawings. I find the style very appealing, and I also liked the stories. It took a while to learn that he’d also done a number of the Mickey Mouse comic books, which I also loved – (but not as much as those Gasoline Alley strips despite how great I think the Mickey comics are.)

Here’s the 2010 post on Gasoline Alley: Dick Moores – 1
Here’s the post on the Mickey comic books: Dick Moores – 2

Bill Peckmann sent some scans to make up a good post about Moores and his work. Here’s Bill, writing about the post:

Here’s a little triptych tribute we could give to master cartoonist Dick Moores. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, I would like to call it “The good, the bad and the ugly.”

Here’s the good: Dick Moores’ self caricature and capsule bio from R.C.Harvey’s terrific 1998 book, “A Gallery of Rouges: Cartoonists’ Self Caricatures”.

Here’s the bad: As in really bad, which in “today’s jargon” means exceptional, out of sight good!

It’s the new release of Library of American Comics’ “Gasoline Alley, by Frank King and Dick Moores, it’s the collected daily strips from 1964 to 1966. This vol. 1 is a dream come true for all Dick Moores fans. Done with the same scholarly quality as all of their long list of great books, LOAC’s “Gasoline Alley” does not disappoint in any way. Their front of the book bio of Moores, is illustrated with a lot of his, not easy to find, pre GA art!

The front cover

The back cover

The ugly: This is meant and said in only the most positive way. Here we have a 1948 Mickey Mouse children’s book that was illustrated by Dick Moores during his sixteen year tenure at Disney’s comic book and comic strip department. His style in the book might not be as “slick” as the great Disney print guys of the day, but Moores brought a wonderful, heartfelt “folk artist” quality to this book that he always gave to all of his endevours.

The front cover

The end papers

Title page

The back cover

Note: This is a long post. I was going to post it the day before Halloween, but I thought I’d give you something to do – revisit this classic comic – over the weekend. Happy Halloween.

- I remember as a kid seeing the annual Halloween show on the Wonderful World of Color. Featured was the Donald cartoon wherein Hazel the Witch was introduced, Trick or Treat. Carl Barks went wild with this character and the premise, and it was a treat every year to get the new Donald story featuring the great character. (All that was missing was June Foray’s great voice. But I could play that in my head when I read the comic book. t was her first voice for Disney and her big break into animation voices. She started with a homerun; a classic the first time out of the box.)

Bill Peckmann has forwarded scans of the following story. Here’s his introductory words to the piece.

In 1952 Carl Barks did a ‘Donald Duck’ comic book titled ‘Trick or Treat‘. It was a rare instance where a Barks story had its origins in a Disney Duck short. (Geoff Blum‘s excellent essay/history of the story at the end post will explain how the ‘Trick or Treat’ book came about.)

Here, with no tricks and all treats is Carl being at the top of his game, this is the cover of the original 1952 Dell comic book.

Comic book cover

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Here’s the article by Geof Blum writing about the genesis of this comic book story adapted from the animated short.

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(Click any image to enlarge to make it legible.)

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There’s a good post about the color of this strip for the Gladstone publishing version of Trick or Treat. Posted are a number of color guides for that version.

Finally, here’s Carl Barks’ oil painting based on the artwork for his classic comic book.

To be honest, I think this is the best of this series of oil paintings that Barks has done. It doesn’t feel like something overworked and trying too hard. It just captures the spirit of the original magazine as well as the spirit of the animated short from which it was adapted. Not only a Barks gem, but a Disney gem as well.

- On Monday I started posting this chapter from Hank Ketcham’s autobiography, The Merchant of Dennis the Menace: The Autobiography of Hank Ketcham. Bill Peckmann introduced me to this book, and the chapter I’m posting here. Many thanks to him for the scans.

This is the second half.

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- Bill Peckmann told me about Hank Ketcham’s autobiography, The Merchant of Dennis the Menace: The Autobiography of Hank Ketcham. I wasn’t aware of it. I learned that there was a chapter on his work at the Disney studio, and Bill said he’d scan it for me. So, I was pleased and excited and knew it’d be a great piece to post here. And it is.

So this is the first part of the book’s chapter, well worth the read. If you’re interested in the book, it’s still available on Amazon.

The book’s cover

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The second half of this chapter will come on Friday.

- When I was a kid in 1957, I was all hopped up on the start of a new series coming to TV. Every kid in America was. Zorro was promoted endlessly on the Disneyland Show and on Mickey Mouse Club. When it finally came time for the show to premiere, I was in trouble. I had caught the Asiatic Flu, troublesome in those days, and was violently sick. I wasn’t allowed to leave my bed. I was so upset at the idea of missing Zorro, that I was probably getting myself sicker. My father carried me out of my bed into the living room to watch the premiere, and I was ecstatic. The show was great (but probably not as great as the one that had built n my mind), and all was right with the world.

Naturally, I owned the comic book when that came out. Now here comes that very same comic via email. Bill Peckmann sent me scans and added a lot of additional material as well. I hope you enjoy it. Here’s Bill:

What happens when you take a cartoonist who excels in designing and staging in black ink and give him the assignment of illustrating a western capped crusader dressed in black, you get the classic comic book series “Walt Disney Presents Zorro”, that’s what!

We lucky fans of Alex Toth always felt it was a match made in heaven, but Alex had a slightly different take on it, which you will read further into the post.

Here is a small scrapbook of “Zorro” art that spans over 40 years.

We start with the first Zorro (origin) story from Dell printed in 1957. The first half of the story is the original color comic book, the second half of the story is a black and white reprint version taken from Eclipse Books’ “The Complete Collection of Zorro” printed in 1988. Editor Dean Mullaney was able to get Alex to add new gray toning to the pages and do two new beautiful covers!

Magazine cover

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The two new covers done in 1988, Alex at the top of his game.

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This illustration is from Manuel Auad’s “Alex Toth” book.

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This is taken from Manuel Auad’s “Alex Toth” book.

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Alex’s thoughts on “Zorro” taken from Dean Mullaney’s Eclipse book.

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Marvel Comics brought Zorro out of retirement in 1991
and Alex did three covers for that venture.

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There was always need for a Zorro sketch here and there
and Alex always obliged!

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- Bill Peckmann offers a bevy of beautiful Alex Toth illustrations for Conan the Barbarian. Here are Bill’s comments for these incredibly fine illustrations:

I haven’t seen many of these Toth illustrations on the Net, and I thought maybe the Toth fans out there might enjoy these.

Here is Alex Toth in the early 1980′s taking a stab at the Sword and Sorcery genre and doing a ripping job of it. These are single page illustrations from Marvel’s black and white magazine, “The Savage Sword of Conan“. Alex is at the top of his game; design and drawing leave nothing to be desired. the assignment held his interest long enough so we came away the winners with these nine examples.

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That was the last of Alex’s Conan. He did a total of
10 illustrations for Marvel’s Conan, so we have all but one.

Here is a 1981 drawing of super heroes that Alex dedicated to Klaus Strzyz,
a fan, a friend and interviewer of Alex’s. The drawing was then made into a
handsome cover on Roy Thomas’ “Alter Ego’s” fanzine tribute to Toth in 2006.

This is the final cover for Roy Thomas’ 2006 “Alter Ego’s” tribute to Toth.

These are the covers of books and magazines that have collected the words and work of Alex. Hopefully for new fans they still might be available somewhere on the net or in used bookstores.

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The next two excellent books were authored and published by Toth fan and friend Manuel Auad. (Manuel was also responsible for the great, recent Robert Fawcett book and the forthcoming (October) book on illustrator Albert Dorne. The illustrator who still remains Jack Davis’ biggest idol!)

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Tipped in autographs for “Alex Toth: Black & White”.

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Alex and his wife/best friend Guyla in their Hollywood home in 1979.
They met at Hanna-Barbera and the rest is history.

Their marriage will be brought to life in the upcoming book “Alex Toth, Illustrated“,
second in the trilogy of Alex’s work, by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell.

Vol 1 & 2 by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell.
Now available on Amazon.

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann for all the scanning as well as the loan of the artwork.

- Bill Peckmann sent me a stash of nine extraordinarily fine illustrations by Alex Toth done for the magazine, The Savage Sword of Conan.

To fill up the post, Bill sent a number of magazine covers (front and back). However, I thought the Conan drawngs so excellent, that I’ve chosen to have them stand alone. So, I’m using these pieces – great as they are (they certainly stand alone as a post) – as a teaser for Thursday’s images of Conan. Trust me, come back if you’re a fan of Alex Toth’s work.

For part 1, Bill wrote:

Here’s a potpourri of front and back covers that Alex did in the 1980′s.

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A wraparound cover/front and back

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And, finally, this quick sketch by Toth.

The Republican and Democratic conventions have me worked up into a political frenzy. Given the patriotic fervor running through my blood, these days, it’s appropriate to post this Alex Toth sampler. There’s nothing more American than good cowboy stories, and Bill Peckmann has sent me just that. Over to Bill:

Alex Toth spent a large portion of his life in Hollywood and not only did he live there, he breathed it! Alex loved movies and like any good film director he was able to do comic book genre stories with the same great flair that a John Ford would bring to his different films.

Here are three ‘Western’ stories by Alex with each one going down somewhat of a different ‘Trail’.
The first one, ‘Anachronism’, was published in DC’s ‘Weird Western Tales’, # 14, Nov. 1972.

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Alex laid out this story horizontally, which makes for
some beautifully composed pages and panels, like a
well done Sunday funnies page of years ago. The readers
would have had to read the book sideways, I wonder how
Alex got away with that with the editors/publishers.

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I’ll separate the stories again with some of Alex’s ‘Doodles’.

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The story that follows is:
‘The Wings Of Jealous Gods’ from DC’s ‘Adventure Comics’, # 425, Jan. 1973.

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Here are more of the doodles Alex Toth did, these in pen.

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Here is the third Toth Western tale. It was a small booklet done for the Ralston-Purina Cereal Company in 1982.
It’s a story starring movie cowboy Tom Mix. (It must have taken Alex back to his childhood days of Saturday afternoon movie house matinees.)
There was hope of doing more, but as far as I know, this was the only one produced.

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And, finally . . . A couple of more doodles.

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Today’s the anniversary of Rowland B. Wilson‘s Birthday,
and I have a great post to celebrate it.

- Completing the scanning and posting of Rowland Wilson‘s book, Whites of Their Eyes, I received a note from Suzanne Wilson and a series of scans of some beautiful color art by Rowland. Here’s that note:

Hello Michael,

It’s exciting to see Rowland B. Wilson’s “The Whites of Their Eyes” revisited. Perhaps your posting will initiate another half-century of shelf life to these cartoons!

Originally, most of them were presented in color but due to printing restraints of the time they did not appear that way in the book. I think Rowland said he had to rework some of them as line drawings.

I thought it might be of interest to make a comparison with the color versions. In the process I came across additional material from Esquire that wasn’t included in “Whites”, as well as from some unknown publications. They are interspersed here in no particular order.

Image 07, the lighthouse keeper, was selected by the great psychologist, Carl Jung as an illustration in “Man and His Symbols”. It was reprinted recently in “Understanding Psychology”, published by McGraw-Hill.

Thank you for keeping the RBW humor and oeuvre alive.

Sincerely,
Suzanne

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Finally, here are two drawings in honor of the Olympics:

This first one was published in Saturday Evening Post.

This sketch comes from RBW’s work on Disney’s Hercules.

According to Amazon, Suzanne Wilson’s book, Rowland B. Wilson’s Trade Secrets: Notes on Cartooning and Animation, was released yesterday, and is Out of Print with LIMITED AVAILABILITY. I guess that when I said to get one soon, a lot of people were listening.

This is a book I’ve been looking forward to reading for quite some time. I’m curious about the “Cartooning” part, but I’m wildly interested in seeing the “Animation” part. Rowland was a master of design when he worked in animation; I want to read anything he has to say about it.