A Corben Classic in Rarely Seen Color

When Richard Corben's fabulous artwork for Doug Moench's "Change Into Something Comfortable" appeared in James Warren's Creepy waaayyyyy back in 1973, it was printed in black and white. For some reason the color insert was in absentia, might have been budgetary reasons but whatever ... it was black and white as was the subsequent reprint in Eerie.

Check out the excellent Black N' White And Red All Over to see the black and white version.

And now enjoy the color version courtesy of the color printing by Catalan Communications some ten years later.

Monte Cassino - A Place in the Sun For The D-Day Dodgers

Monte Cassino was one of those battles that resonated in the mind of a generation of school boys brought up in the years that followed the end of the Second World War. Part of the Italian Campaign; Winston Churchill's plan to provide an alternative route to Berlin before Stalin's Soviet hordes could occupy the whole German capital by launching a joint US and UK thrust through the "soft underbelly of Europe" as he rather quaintly put it. The lot of the "D-Day Dodgers" as they were christened, was just dreadful, involving bitter fighting against an implacable enemy through some of the roughest terrain in atrocious weather conditions. The misery being further compounded by the rivalries of the US (Mark Clark) and UK (Montgomery) generals responsible for achieving what was rapidly turning into a Herculean task.

As the Allies worked their way northwards and the terrain became progressively more precipitous, so the campaign bogged down and it was at the abbey of Monte Cassino where the outcome of the whole campaign would be decided.

Here then is more of Ron Embleton's truly astonishing artistry as he visits this battle twice. Firstly in TV Express from 1960 and then some three years later in the pages of Look and Learn magazine.

Action Figures and Lebensraum

As is traditional over the festive season, we had a family gathering which was, as always, a most pleasant affair. We had our youngest son and his girlfriend as well as my brother as house guests in addition to a lot of gatherings with other members of the family.

On reflection my brother and I have been together for most Christmas's and there is always something of a revisiting of childhood memories and, as I look at my latest Christmas gift from him, a cleaving to shared passions which our mother always regarded with deep regret, usually couched with the words, "Don't you think it's about time you grew out of ..."

And there lies the essence of the problem, it's not just my dear old, long departed Mum it's women in general who even in their youth, although they may well be the essence of every young man's romantic fantasy made flesh, are in fact more grounded in reality than most men ever achieve no matter how old they are. Men are dreamers, women are realists, much more adept at dealing with the practicalities of life and it's at times like Christmas when comes the moment for the exchange of gifts between my brother and I that the sheer impracticality of those dreams is exposed.


So here dear reader is my Christmas present - still in it's box awaiting the moment when I will clear a space in my studio to display the thing in all it's insanely detailed glory. My brother meanwhile was the recipient of an equally incredibly detailed 1/6 scale mortar complete with fanatical SS man ready to fire the thing.

The origins of this tale of obsession lies way back in the mists of time when in 1966 UK manufacturer Palitoy under licence from US manufacturer  Hasbro introduced the revolutionary concept of Action Man - dolls aimed at boys as opposed to girls. For 1966 a really wild idea but the fact that these dolls were fully articulated fighting men, wearing cool US Army, Navy or Air Force gear was irresistible. In fact the reason they were thus attired was that they were clones of Hasbro's GI Joe line of action figures. The word doll was unconscionable to all right thinking boys - they were action figures!

So we collected them and eventually as inevitably happens we managed to momentarily convince ourselves that we'd grown out of the things and sold the lot, which by the time we sold them was a pretty impressive collection.

It wasn't until years later that our own boys were at the stage of wanting their own Action Men that I revisited the world of dolls ... sorry action figures for boys. The range of figures and their gear was a real disappointment, and you could tell that the figures on offer lacked any real idea of who they were aimed at. The military range was gone and the fantasy figures that were on offer were just ludicrous and looked like poorly designed and articulated dolls made out of cheap plastic with really tacky accoutrements.

The Action Man of 1966 was just a distant memory, although and interestingly there were a few cottage industry type manufacturers producing military figures to the same 1/6 scale with relatively impressive equipment, even if the actual figures were not much better than those available in your local Toys R Us. The problem that beset these small manufacturers was that by confining themselves to small scale productions their action figures were just too expensive, especially when the figures themselves looked relatively amateurish..

The major development in catering for the market that Hasbro had failed to recognize and the cottage manufacturers had failed to adequately service, came when Dragon Models launched their first 1/6 scale action figure in the summer of 1999. Based in Hong Kong, which under the relatively laissez faire tax regime of a succession of UK governors has been the model for China's rise to the industrial giant it now has become, the company had achieved international renown amongst model makers and military enthusiasts.

The price of the first figure Hans (with a distinctly Liam Neeson head sculpt) not only undercut the cost of the cottage industry figures it also undercut the price of Hasbro's figures. And this for a figure that was not only beautifully sculpted but whose equipment was correct down to the 'nth detail. I mean not only did Hans M35 Stahlhelm look correct from the outside but it also came equipped with the correct Wermacht helmet liner!!!

Initial sales were very encouraging and as each new figure was launched the company strove to outdo their previous efforts. Needless to say I was hooked, I was no longer buying them for the kids (perish the thought!) I was buying them for myself.

To cut a long story short, I became hopelessly addicted, as each new figure appeared I bought it before it sold out and it became unobtainable outside of the secondary market where the prices were becoming truly horrendous. I had set certain boundaries to my collecting. Initially only World War 2 figures and then when the enormity of the undertaking dawned upon me only The German Army. But even these constraints were not enough. It got to the stage where we were running out of space to store the figures and in the end with the loft (rechristened The Luft by my co-conspirator brother) bulging with hundreds of boxes of the things (many unopened). The demands of lebensraum that my 1/6 scale obsession were making were simply untenable. So I decided to wean myself off the sad obsession by simply not even checking out all the regular sites that were feeding my addiction.
So we only ever revisit this lunatic enterprise when my brother and I get together at Christmas and somewhat shame faced  unwrap the boxes we have bought each other, containing another addition to the ranks of our  burgeoning army.


But there are others out there who have also fallen victim to this manifestation of men's inability to entirely reconcile themselves to the more prosaic concerns that govern day to day existence as can be witnessed via this monument to blokedom as expressed through 1/6 scale.

Another Band For 2011

Well I'm hoping so, as our youngest is their resident chain wielder and if everybody goes out and buys their records then we can prevent being slowly bled white topping up his non existent bank balance.

So please people don't waste your money on The Vaccines, Jamie Woon or Claire McGuire, or any of the other nice industry friendly rising stars on BBC's Sounds of 2011 list, they're doing OK as is.

Go out and buy Dark Horses vinyl offering on the Beggar's Banquet label titled "Alone". Very apt as their lovely chanteuse Lisa has Swedish blood running through her veins and I do recall that's all that Greta Garbo craved and she too had Swedish forebears.

And then I can afford to buy more comics to review and scan for your ongoing entertainment and illumination even.

Great News For Barks Fans

This has been buzzing around the internet for a few days now and I must thank my fellow Duck fan Simon for alerting me to this. But finally we are going to see affordable and tastefully produced editions of the complete works of Carl Barks, produced by none other than Fantagraphics Books, who have been wowing comic book aficionados  with reprints of classic comic strips, including their recent and superlative Prince Valiant volumes.

The books will amount to 30 volumes and will be issued at the rate of two volumes a year, ensuring that some Barks fans will be reading these books in their nursing homes. However, the better news is that the books will be issued with the prioritization of the best years at the head of the release schedule. Which means that the first book to appear will include classic tales such as "Lost in the Andes" and "Race to the South Seas" along with "Voodoo Hoodoo", "The Golden Christmas Tree" and contemporaneous 10 pagers. The second volume will include "Only A Poor Old Man" and "Back to the Klondike" which are two classic Uncle Scrooge epics along with the shorter stories from this period.

The news gets better and better as the stories will be recolored using the original comics as a color guide and utilizing the considerable graphic talents of illustrator Rich Tommaso to add flat (yup flat as in F.L.A.T. - no crappy digital airbrush, twenty years out of date efx) colors to Barks artwork.

And the books will retail for a very affordable $25.00  which with 240 pages featuring some of the best ever stories to appear in comics is a really irresistible deal and proves beyond peradventure that more and more people care about the health and welfare of  the dear little flexible guy aka Dave Morris's credit card.

What more could you ask for?

10 volumes a year.

... fifteen years is way too long to wait!

Check this link for further details.

A Hunting We Will Go

 I remember the days when dentist's waiting rooms would have magazines lying around which you'd actually want to pick up and read. Nowadays it's all Bella, Best or the BBC's Good Food magazine. Bit like TV, as exciting as watching paint dry.

So here from the golden age of men's magazines, which in those days were totally non PC and designed to excite your interest on the strength of the artwork that so lavishly adorned each spread is the irrepressible Mort Kunstler as he tackles the multitude of killer fauna that inhabits much of North America.

The picture of the bear leaping up out of nowhere is particularly chilling.

If you want to read more about Kunstler and illustration in general then check out Dan Zimmer's Illustration site, where his excellent magazine's and books may be investigated further.

Happy New Year!

Any excuse for posting a painting by J. C. Leyendecker is alright by me.


So here's one by Joseph Leyendecker from 1938, when even though his artwork was no longer as much in demand as it had been for much of the previous thirty years, still stood head and shoulders above most of his peers.

 Leyendecker despite the incredible success he enjoyed, clove to an ethos of insecurity to ensure that he remained hungry for the next commission and while his younger brother, illustrator Frank, fluffed up deadlines, Joseph ensured that his work was always of exceptional quality and always. always delivered on time. The necessary impetus to impending penury was created by J.C.'s determination to always spend that little bit more than they were earning. A situation exacerbated by the truly imposing  mansion in New Rochelle that they shred with Charles Beach, the model for one of J.C.'s most prestigious accounts for Arrow Shirt Collars. The glamorous characters that he created for this long running series of magazine ads, created such a stir that sack loads of fan mail directed to the characters themselves rather than J.C. were routinely delivered to the magazines running the ads.

Anyway, here for the moment is the New Year cherub as well as some other vintage examples of Leyendecker artwork.