Fuzzy Memories

One thing i enjoy perusing during my Comic Archeology digs is the old advertising. We've taken a peek or two, and we'll certainly go diving into old adverts in the future.
Today, let's look at a narrow group - some comic book back covers from  50  51 years ago in 1967 -

Hmm...

Perhaps those are not quite how my fellow geezers remember them? Let me offer a bit of aid in remembery with the front covers to those same comic books -

Surely that helps, right?
If not, then join us later today when take a look inside - and outside - of these little '60s oddities.

indicia to follow (1967)

Did You Mean The Elaborate Melody Or The Mythic Nymph?

It's been nearly 2 weeks since debuting our Dibellan feature, even if we're still working on what to call it. Seems like another is due if we're going to make it a regular part of the blog, no?

As last time, we're going to someone who has been a muse for my artwork - in this case, the subject of several paintings, and surely more to follow.

May i present the compelling beauty of Aria Giovanni -

Distracting, too.

Yes, My Child, It Was A Galla Event...

One of the many great things that came out of the '80s comic expansion was Matt Wagner and his two big concept books - Grendel and Mage. I was one of them geeks buying everything published in those days, and Comico Primer #2 had this odd little strip from this new kid that somehow managed to convey the polish and subtle craftsmanship that would come with time and experience in those first raw, but confident, pages of his moody comic. His artwork on Grendel was so well suited to the black and white that it didn't seem like a limitation as it did in so many books. and the writing conveyed a sense of a greater world waiting to be revealed from the very beginning.

While Mage was a very personal title that only Matt could create, Grendel was a concept that he allowed to grow beyond him, to terrific effect at times. The ever changing creative teams suited the nature of the ever evolving character/concept, and they often pushed both expectations and limits. When Matt chose to follow his elegantly clean work with artists like the Pander Brothers and Bernie Mireault, the change was jarring - to great effect. The dramatic shift in visuals reflected the story, and made it almost brutally obvious that things had indeed changed, and were going to continue to do so. Each time, the shift was drastic enough to make the viewer unsure if this was a good thing, then won us over after every forced change to our expectations.

I have to admit, i've fallen behind and have yet to view the more recent incarnations of Grendel. While dwelling upon the need to catch up, i thought i'd mention a fabulous book on the subject from ten eleven years ago:

If you've tragically missed this intermittent title over the last 35 years, this is a fine way to get a feel of the many excellent artists who have contributed to the mythos. Old fan or new discoverer, the book is a beautiful collection, with text covering the evolution of Grendel  while offering artwork showing both behind the scenes production work and full page reproductions of gorgeous finished works.

The book runs over 200 pages, but we're only going to tease 13 of them here.
Eddie would have wanted it that way.

pages from The Art Of Matt Wagner's Grendel (2007)

Blue Monday Calendar is GO!

As indicated, i was rather dissatisfied with the calendar used in the previous post. So much so, that i've started rebuilding a calendar that wouldn't be re-usable until 2040:

NOTE: This lovely painting by Gil Elvgren contains nudity

and has been moved to our back room for adult content.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

of the original post to view the artwork.

I'm much more pleased to proceed with a year of Gil Elvgren's marvelous pin-up girls from the middle of the last century. All paintings in this series originate from between 1944 - 1968. This week's painting is Gay Nymph, from 1946.

I feel better now.

Blue Monday Calendar is Go?

I had previously alluded to a new calendar feature to begin this year - a year which oh, so conveniently begins on a Monday. In my Cultural Archeology digs, i had encountered several weekly desktop calendars, including date matches for the next 3 years. So i decided to start running each week's calendar as a regular Blue Monday feature since they were all image appropriate.

Damnedest thing, though. The calendar intended for this year seems to have gone walkabout. I've hunted here, there, and beyond the bush, and still no sign of the critter. Alas.

At the last minute, a replacement dropped into my hands -a G-Taste manga calendar with one girl for each week, and one for each weekend. It's an odd little thing, not at all what i had intended. But it will give us a start at the start, and i'm not afraid of changing horses midstream.

Presentation kind of sucks on this calendar. I'm not fond of this design for a few reasons. A full third of every page is wasted white space for the logo. I don't mind, can even appreciate, breaking the week and the weekend apart, but with all that empty space they've left the actual calendar of the calendar too small. The date circles could easily be doubled or trebled in size making it more usable, and perhaps more visually balanced, too.

Still - it was very nice of the girls to show up when they did.

So, we'll go ahead and start off with this one, but it's likely to either get modified in layout, or acquire a companion calendar to join it. Even i have to create a new calendar from old artwork.
If things warm up into double digit Fahrenheit around here, i'll be back with an actual Blue Monday post. Otherwise, i'm off to slaughter a Tauntaun.

When Is We, New Year Edition

A new year means a new selection of calendars for the first day of the month, starting with our favorite keeper of Time-

NOTE: The Playboy calendar page has nudity, of course,
and has been moved to our back room for adult content.
Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive
of the original post to view the picture.

There you have it - a half dozen options for mapping the immediate future.

Coming up, a new Blue Monday Calendar feature hinted at in previous posts.

Congratulations! You Survived

With the system troubles still plaguing new work, we turn once again to the old web comic for our holiday greeting-

NOTE: This holiday greeting, in addition to myself,

Mr. Floppy, and Groucho, includes 8 naked women and so

has been moved to our back room for adult content.

It's just a black & white line drawing.

Please follow this link to The Other Voice Of ODD! archive

 of the original post to view the artwork.

I'm Guessing Not Crumpets

Just an odd post prompted by personal curiosity. This one is directed at our UK readers (Now the #2 source of views, with Canada fallen to #4 (behind Spain), and Russia (our old #3) dropped down to the bottom of the top 10. Guess it's long past time for that piece on the best classic Sherlock Holmes movies ever made.)

My question:
When you settle in for a cuppa, do you have a nibble with it? If so, what is your preferred nibble?

For myself, these days it tends to be a slice of lemon cake. Lemon pound cake, not that gooey stuff. I've got one cooling from the oven at the moment, and typically bake at least one a week in recent months. This time i got experimental and added in some tart cherries; seems like they should blend well, but might be a bit much. I'll find out soon, with a spot of strong black tea on this cold afternoon. The grapefruit glaze on the last one worked out mighty fine.
I might note that i like the sweet nibble, but like the tea pure - just hot water & tea leaves - to cut through and counterpoint that sweet.

Hmm....
Wonder how cooled that cake is?

Oh. You probably want some images with the text, hm?
Tea and sweets? I think we can manage that. Of course, since we haven't ascertained the tastes of our guests, i suppose one must provide variety...

Eep!
I really should have checked the pantry first.

Time to got put on a pot...

Sunday Morning Antiques

There's a lot of feeling old going on, and i'm going to embrace that today. So the most recent of our Sunday Morning Funnies is 100 years old. Today's cartoons range from 1902-1917, so buckle up those cultural comfort safety belts and let's read on!

It's 1902 and superheroes are not yet a thing. What's a super strong fellow to do? Hugo Hercules had his own unique notions...

Before Smarty Grandpa there was the Merry Pranks Of Foxy Grandpa (1902)-

Even way back in 1904, cats were getting their own comics with Aubrey Of The Tenements-

Our most recent strips today, these Asthma Simpson The Village Queen Sunday comics come from some point between 1915-1917-

And we end up in the middle with a couple of 1907 comics from the surreally odd Loony Literature comic-

I think that last one still works today, though i must admit to a bit of surprise at seeing the telephone in a 110 year old comic. It's easy to forget that Bell filed his patent back in 1876, and phones were big enough business for AT&T's hostile takeover of the Western Union Telegraph  to have occurred in 1911. While it may not yet be a generally accessible device in 1907, it was exactly 30 years after the establishment of the first commercial telephone service in 1877. So it certainly makes sense that a "Princess" would have one at that time.

But i wouldn't have thought in that context if i was creating something that was supposed to exist back then.

Hmm...
I may have rambled off track once again.