Category: Cartooning

Three deceased Greats

The 2010 San Diego Comic-Con is coming up soon. Over on Comic-Convention Memories, there are batches of photos taken at the San Diego con in 1974.

Here’s a pic of MAD cartoonist Sergio Aragonés. No! Wait! That’s not Sergio, it’s Peanuts animator Bill Melendez.

And here’s his de facto boss, Sparky Schulz, when he was — yikes! — a couple of years younger than I am now!

With special guest star, director Frank Capra! Frank Capra?? He attended a comic-book convention in 1974??? That was several years after his autobiography, The Name Above the Title, and ten years before She’s a Wonderful Wife — er, I mean It’s a Wonderful Life — was rescued from public domain abuse and rightly hailed as one of the all-time great movies.

The Black Widow?

My lack of worldliness and poor political acumen are leaving me perplexed. Why would the Russians consider this woman to be a good candidate for training as an alleged spy? What made them think she could possibly be able to gain access to the private quarters of influential men? Here’s another picture of her I found, training in Russia.

From sad to worst

I’ve not been writing because I’m away for a few days, but tonight I was saddened to learn that Gene Colan’s wife Adrienne has died.

My buddy Dennis and I first met Gene and Adrienne over ten years ago, when they made appearances at Paul Howley’s store, That’s Entertainment, in Worcester, MA. Those of us who know what’s been going on recently in the Colan family had been hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but it has.

The last time I spoke with Gene and Adrienne, I was calling to make sure they received a $2000 check I had sent to them. It was a straight gift. I asked for nothing in return, not even a sketch. I told Gene that it was my way of saying thanks for drawing so many great comic-books.

Adrienne was very appreciative, and she said the money would help pay for Gene’s medications. A few minutes before calling, I had told Steranko (who I first met in 1972) I would be speaking with Gene, and he said, with great intensity, “I want you to tell him that I am the world’s number one Gene Colan fan. Would you do that for me, please?” I promised I would, and when I told Gene, he said, “Jim Steranko said that? Oh my, that’s wonderful. What an honor that is.”

With the tremendous success of the first Iron Man movie, I was pleased that Marvel Comics did the right thing and kicked in with some substantial cash for Gene. It meant a lot to me to be able to help the Colan’s through one of their tougher times, and it hurts that the situation later became as bad as it did. Now is a time for peace, rest, and healing.

Al Williamson’s Flash drive

It’s been only a month since Frank Frazetta’s passing, and now Al Williamson is gone, too. They did some outstanding work together at EC. If Frazetta’s forté was fantasy, Williamson’s bent was more for science-fiction.

I first saw Williamson’s work in 1966, in issue #1 of the Flash Gordon comic-book series, from the short-lived King Comics line. Here is a sample of what I saw when I was but a wee lad of ten. The artistry in these pages is stunning, compared to many of the comics that were being published at the time.

Williamson worked in a style inspired by Alex Raymond, who is my pick for the all-time greatest artist of adventure comic strips. Younger fans came to know Williamson from his run on Star Wars. By that time, Al was being assisted by Carlos Garzón, from Bogotá, Columbia, where the American-born Williamson had grown up.

The last time I saw Williamson at a comics convention he still had something of the brash, young artistic turk about him, despite being in middle-age, and he was still very much a lady’s man. He was a rare breed, who updated a classic style of illustration, while staying true to it. Williamson and Frazetta were to comic books what the Method was to acting, where tried-and-true techniques of the past were reinvigorated with an independent, cutting-edge, attitude.

Speaking of Frazetta, his most famous ink drawing was recently bought by Heritage Auction co-founder Jim Halperin for $380,000. It was drawn for a Famous Funnies issue of Buck Rogers, but it ended up as the cover for the EC book Weird Science-Fantasy #29.

Erik Colan with his father Gene

Gene Colan is one of the all-time great comic-book artists. There are many favorite stories that Gene illustrated, starting with the first I ever saw, Daredevil #20, in 1966. Another is the Iron Man story in Tales of Suspense #93.

Two years ago, Gene Colan was at death’s door. With a lot of medical care, and some financial help from his peers and fans (myself included), Gene made a miraculous recovery. Recently, Gene has had a tough time with some personal, as well as physical, setbacks. The Colan family is starting to recover from these latest difficulties, and I was surprised and pleased when Denro told me that Gene’s son Erik has posted some videos with his dad on YouTube.

Monte Story School

Novelist Monte Schulz’s follow-up to his dark, yet rollicking This Side of Jordan is The Last Rose of Summer, which should be out in December.

Monte has had a long association with the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. His father attended the conference for many years, as did Ray Bradbury. The conference ran into financial trouble and ended up in bankruptcy court. Monte made an offer and now he owns the conference, presumably along with all of the headaches that go with it.

WRITERS CONFERENCE SOLD: Monte Schulz, son of the late Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz, has purchased the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robin Riblet, on Tuesday, June 8, approved the $27,000 sale. Monte plans to hold the next conference next June. There was no conference this year or last due to prior owner Marcia Meier’s bankruptcy.

And with apologies to Stephen Colbert, I think the title of this post qualifies for greatest pun of all time.