Weird War #39

A little three page gem from Weird War Tales, issue #39. The story is by the great Jack Oleck, artwork is by P. Kirchner and T. Blaisdell.

As always the pages of the story are in order from top to bottom. Simply click on the page for the hi-res image...

As with all Jack Oleck stories there seems to be some basis in fact for this tale, and the reality is in many ways more interesting than fiction. There really was a German U-Boat designated U-235. It was apparently sunk once by US bombs and returned to action only to be accidently sunk by German torpedos on April 14th, 1945. The source for this assertion is German records and oddly, the wreck has never been found... Some believe the sinking was a ruse and the boat was actually used to smuggle gold bullion out of Germany at wars end to support German war criminals exiled in Argentina.

For mor information click the links below...

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=110&t=113408

http://uboat.net/boats/u235.htm

Weird War #39

A little three page gem from Weird War Tales, issue #39. The story is by the great Jack Oleck, artwork is by P. Kirchner and T. Blaisdell.

As always the pages of the story are in order from top to bottom. Simply click on the page for the hi-res image...

As with all Jack Oleck stories there seems to be some basis in fact for this tale, and the reality is in many ways more interesting than fiction. There really was a German U-Boat designated U-235. It was apparently sunk once by US bombs and returned to action only to be accidently sunk by German torpedos on April 14th, 1945. The source for this assertion is German records and oddly, the wreck has never been found... Some believe the sinking was a ruse and the boat was actually used to smuggle gold bullion out of Germany at wars end to support German war criminals exiled in Argentina.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=110&t=113408

The Art of Al Williamson

>The Art of Al Williamson is a wonderful little collection of interviews and artwork that was put together by James Van Hise back in 1983. Thought I would post just some of the great stuff that you can find in this book as a way of generating interest in this great artist and this fantastic publication. If you ever see it available don't hesitate, buy it! I'll start with some of the beautiful sketches and drawings found inside. As always, just click the image to enlarge...

The following images are pictures of Al Williamson and his circle of friends (including the great painter Frank Frazetta) dressed in various outfits while posing for the illustrations that they created for E.C. Comics.

The following are samples of some of the interviews, first up, the legendary Bill Gaines. As always, click the images to enlarge...

Another interview below with the painter Frank Frazetta...

George Lucas insisted on Al Williamson for the Newspaper Strip version of Star Wars...

I think the coolest thing about this wonderful little book is the interview with Roy Krenkel. For anyone unfamiliar with this guy (and sadly, he is obscure...) I encourage you to learn more about him. He was a great artist and a passionate teacher/advocate for the field of comics and illustration. The first page below kicks off with Fred Fredericks talking about Al Williamson's love of the old Republic Serials and the influence that legendary stuntman Dave Sharpe had on his work. Simply click on these pages to embiggin.

I'll finish out this post with the extraordinary splash page from Incredible Science Fiction #32. The page was a collaboration between Krenkel And Williamson and even though it was drawn over half a century ago it still stands as one of the finest things ever published in the history of comics. Click the image to enlarge and take your time enjoying it...

The following are links related to this post...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Williamson

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/arts/design/21williamson.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Krenkel

http://www.bpib.com/illustra2/krenkel.htm

http://www.kaluta.com/pages/text/krenkel.html

Epic Illustrated #1

This post features the cover and a couple of nice little gems from issue one of Epic Illustrated. The cover is by the hand of the mighty Frank Frazetta and is titled "Seven Romans." As always, just click on the images to enlarge...

http://www.frankfrazetta.net/

I think it's fair to say that this little three page, fully painted strip by Bob Larkin, captured the zeitgeist of the late 1970's and early 1980's. At the apogee of the cold war the threat of total destruction seemed very real and imminent. I vividly remember standing in a Kroger grocery store in Lebenon, Ky. and reading this fresh off the magazine rack. All the way home to my mother and stepfather's farmhouse I was almost shaking with fear...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Larkin

This magical little one page strip by Mirko Ilic should be required reading in schools...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirko_Ilić

Alien Worlds #7

In the early 1980's there was an amazing run of books from a company called Pacific Comics. The cover and story that follow are from an anthology comic called Alien Worlds. The book ran for 8 outstanding issues and most of the stories were written by the great Bruce Jones. The following six pager is called Ride the Blue Bus and is drawn by George Perez. This was one of those little tales that really put its hooks in me when I was little and I revisit it from time to time as a way of remembering who I was then, and how I perceived the world around me.

As always, the pages of the story are in order from top to bottom, and clicking on the page will give you a hi-res version.

Here is a link to more info about Pacific comics...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Comics

Here is a Link about Alien Worlds...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_Worlds

Here is a link to info about Bruce Jones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Jones_(comics)

Bizarre Adventures #31

Marvel Magazine Group's Bizarre Adventures #31 had a wonderful little black and white Frank Miller story in it that few people have ever seen. It's early work for this artist but you can already see the film noir style that would come to define his work on Sin City. I post these as two up pages so you can see how the artist composed his work for the magazine format. Almost using the extra space as a comics equivalent of wide screen. The effect makes the panel to panel flow very cinematic and I love his use of Duoshade and Zipatone to create midtones. The clip art come to life is a hoot and the ending makes the story much deeper than the standard comics fare... As always the story runs from top to bottom and you can click the images for a screen filling version.

Weird War Tales #22

Just scanned this little gem of a story and cleaned it up in Photoshop. The artist is the late George Evans and the writer was Jack Oleck, for more about them click the links here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Evans_(comics)

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/748

Hope you enjoy it. As always just click on the images to enlarge. The sequence of pages runs from top to bottom, page one of the story following the cover below.