Read Comments (3)

Well, I’m a lucky fan boy today. In my inbox this morning was a lengthy email about a massive, 464 page reprint of Winsor McCay’s Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. I’m quite excited about this, and hopefully the print quality will be as good as Pete Maresca’s groundbreaking McCay volume.

So, that’s cool. Plus, the mailman brought my review copies of Paul Karasik’s indispensable I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets. Ol’ man Karasik really did it this time, bringing all his obsessive zeal to bear on Fletcher Hanks, who I hope will soon be recognized (along with demented brethren Milt Gross, Ogden Whitney and Ernie Bushmiller) as one of the great cartoonists of the 20th century. His ability to make indelible images in comic book panels is nearly unparalleled. What can I say? It’s a brilliant book. Paul was my very first serious interview back in 1999, and his section of the Ganzfeld 1 helped make that book, my maiden voyage in publishing, really special.

Annnyyyyhoooowwww, I also received Drew Friedman’s The Fun Never Stops, an excellent overview of the last 15 years of his comics and illustrations. A perfect book for toilet reading! He remains hilarious and just awesome to hang out with (in book form).

Comics. It’s fun.

Read Comments (8)

Is the man on the left the notoriously reclusive and camera-shy Jack Chick, captured on film for the first time in decades? I do not know. Context (and major credit for finding this) here.

(Via Maud Newton.)

UPDATE: Eric Reynolds in the comments inspired me to search out Chick’s high-school yearbook photo for comparison’s sake. Here it is, courtesy of the Jack T. Chick Museum of Fine Art. Eric’s right: it’s definitely possible.

UPDATE II: Don’t forget to check out Eric’s further researches in the comments. We have confirmation on the wood paneling!

Read Comment (1)

This has probably been going around the internet for a while now, but for some reason, it didn’t really sink in for me until today.

About a year ago on this blog, Dan recommended a book by Gene Byrnes, The Complete Guide to Cartooning. The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive started posting excerpts of it this March. Whenever you have some spare time, you should definitely check it out. Lots of great stuff. Part one alone includes Byrnes, Alex Raymond, Jeff Machamer, Al Capp, and Milton Caniff, among others. (And here’s part two. Follow the links for more.)