Thursday, September 29, 2016

Mercenary: The Freelance Art of Dan Brereton, Painting With Light, Red Star Over Russia, Donald Duck 11 Ghost Sheriff, Mary Astor's Purple Diary, Dawn & Vampirella Signed Deluxe

Also, four bargain-priced books in our Flesk Hurt Books Sale; a brand new Bloom County collection, from his new internet strip: EPISODE XI A NEW HOPE Softcover; a very cool new Batgirl moveable figure from Play Arts; Jack Kirby’s Kamandi Artist’s Edition 2; and at last, Wonder Woman: A Celebration of 75 Years with her best stories 1941-2016.

Art Books  |  Comic Book & Comic Strip Archives   |  Graphic Novels
More 2017 Calendars  |  Flesk Hurt Book Sale  |  Statue & Artist’s Edition
Coming in October  |  Mature Readers  |  News & Notes  |  Website Index
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
 

Art Books

 


MERCENARY The Freelance Art of Dan Brereton Signed
Signed print! Bonus 28-page Booklet. Here are work-in-progress shots and finishe works for sci-fi, superhero, fantasy & horror comics, trading cards, covers and private commissions. Dan describes his working methods as he creates Batgirl, Wolverine, Blacksad, Harley Quinn, Tarzan, Mars Attacks, Captain America, Batman, Swamp Thing, The Spirit, and nudes. Includes a complete 28-page booklet, Annexa, with a fantasy story "Flame and the Black Dog" by James Moore, accompanied by pages of art  by Dan. Big Wow!, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: MERHS
Hard Cover - No Dustjacket, 8x11, 72pg, Full Color
$34.99

 


MERCENARY The Freelance Art of Dan Brereton with Drawing Signed
Signed print with drawing! Bonus 28-page booklet. Recommended. Includes a 5x7 two-color pencil drawing of a warrior girl from the cover. Unlike his other books, this provides an inside story about how he creates the wide variety of work you find here. Many of these are commissions, which will not be seen elsewhere. We like the variety of images, all of heroes and heroines or villains and villainesses...bold, beautifully painted works. Big Wow!, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: MERHD
Hard Cover - No Dustjacket, 8x11, 72pg, Full Color
$100.00

Much more by Dan, including more books with original art, are on our website.
 


PAINTING WITH LIGHT
Art and Photography from the Pre-Raphaelites to the Modern Age Highly Recommended. By Carol Jacobi and Hope Kingsley. Photography was entangled with art from the very moment of its invention by painter and printmaker Louis Daguerre in 1839. Painting with Light is the first book to look at photography’s complex and fascinating inter-relationship with painting and sculpture in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with  emphasis on the Pre-Raphaelite era, and ravishing Symbolist and Pictorialist works.Side-by-side comparisons offer the photo studies of women, landscapes and scenery, along with the finished painted work by Ruskin, Hunt, Millais, Watts, Rosetti, et al. Tate, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: PAIWL
Soft Cover, 7x10, 128pg, Full Color
$22.50

 


ALSO AVAILABLE
AMERICAN GROTESQUE The Life and Art of William Mortensen
Highly Recommended. Edited by Larry Lytle and Michael Moynihan. This stunning compendium reveals the life and work of Hollywood photographer William Mortensen, the unsung pioneer of the "American Grotesque." Using radical photo techniques that predate the digital age, Mortensen created wild images of witchcraft and horror, propaganda and persecution, along with sensuous nudes and character studies. Feral House, 2014. Mature Readers...More.

Item Code: AMEGH
Hard Cover - No Dustjacket, 9x12, 294pg, Partial Color
$45.00 $39.95

Also don' t miss the wonderful sale-priced Victorian Scotland [VICSH. $49.95, your price $24.95]. It has much in common with Painting with Light, and I found it fascinating. We have only 4 copies left.
 


RED STAR OVER RUSSIA
A Visual History of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the Death of Stalin. Winner of the Art Book Prize. Revolutionary and political posters, photographs, paintings, magazine covers, advertisements, and ephemera to illustrate the dramatic birth and eventual decline of the Soviet Union. The book plunges the reader into the shattering events that brought hope, chaos, heroism, and horror, as well as advances in art, photography, and graphic design in the early 20th century. More than 550 influential images are reproduced here, accompanied by David King’s accessible text. Tate, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: REDST
Soft Cover, 10x11, 352pg, Partial Color
$45.00 $41.95

 


ART DECO
Silver-embossed cover by Erté. Recommended. By Norbert Wolf. The Art Deco style is so recognizable and widespread that its original impact on the culture in which it emerged has been all but lost. This large, handsome art book draws our attention back to the birth of Art Deco—a period between two devastating world wars when industrialization was flourishing, streamling became a style, and art was looking forward to a "world of the future." This is filled with hundreds of examples of painting, architecture, interiors, jewelry, crafts, furniture, book illustration and fashion. Prestel, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: ARDECH
Hard Cover - No Dustjacket, 9x13, 288pg, Full Color
$49.95 $44.95

 


JON ARFSTROM 2016 EXHIBITION CATALOG
Jon Arfstrom was the last remaining cover artist for the original Weird Tales, where he produced covers and interior drawings in the early 1950s. He also did work for SF digests Mystic, Spaceway and Other Worlds, as well as fan-produced magazines. He went on to work at Brown & Bigelow for 40 years, doing books, calendars and advertising. Here are collected his later works, incorporating influences like James Christiansen, Ed Cartier and even Dali, surreal, fantasy works of other dimensions. Other Side Gallery & DreamHaven, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: JONAR
Soft Cover, 9x11, 24pg, Full Color
$10.00

 

Comic Book & Comic Strip Archives

 


WONDER WOMAN A CELEBRATION OF 75 YEARS
Highly Recommended. By William Moulton Marston, H.G. Peter, Denny O Neil, Mike Sekowsky, Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang et al. The most recognizable superheroine of all time: Wonder Woman! 400 pages of the best stories, from her first appearance by in All Star #8 in 1941, though 1940s stories in Sensation Comics and her own title (lots of these), to her late 1950s make-over, to the mod ’60s redesign, to adventures from recent decades up to today. Also with work by George Pérez, Darwyn Cooke, writer Robert Kanigher, Gene Colan, Phil Jimenez, Mike Deodato, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone and more. DC, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: WW75H
Hard Cover, 7x10, 400pg, Full Color
$39.99 $34.99

We're partial to Wonder Woman, in case you haven't caught that yet. So we try and handle most graphic novels, archives, and statues. See the website.
 


WALT DISNEY'S DONALD DUCK Volume 11 The Ghost Sheriff of Last Gasp
Book 15 in the series. 21 stories, 1951. Highly Recommended. By Carl Barks. 20 wonderful 10-page stories! Donald and his nephews visit an Old West ghost town that was suddenly abandoned--now it's haunted! Then, Donald is made stationmaster for a tiny out-of-the-way railroad station, but his first delivery is 10,000 baby turkeys — and they’re all hungry! And when the Coast Guard announces it found the wreck of a steamship that sank with Uncle Scrooge’s gold on board, the race is on to recover it ahead of Scrooge’s rivals. Fantagraphics, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: WD11H
Hard Cover - No Dustjacket, 7x10, 242pg, Full Color
$29.99 $25.99

Back volumes, sets, and more by Barks are on our website.
 


HANDS OF SHANG-CHI MASTER OF KUNG FU Omnibus Volume 2
1976-78. By Doug Moench. Art by Paul Gulacy, Jim Craig, Mike Zeck et al. Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu easily ranks as one of the most iconic series in Marvel history. Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy's blend of kung-fu action and globe-trotting espionage raised the already high standard set by the title, and in this second volume, believe it or not, it gets even better! The cinematic Hong Kong showdown with Shen Kuei, the Cat; the tense "Oriental Expediters;" the mystery of MI-6's mole; the sweeping scale of "The Return of Fu Manchu"; the epic "Saga of War-Yore." Marvel, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: SHAN02H
Hard Cover, 7x11, 664pg, Full Color
$125.00 $105.00

Volume 1 is also available at the same price. [SHAN01H. $125, your price $105.]
 


EERIE ARCHIVES Volume 22
Collects #104-108, 1979-80. Recommended. By Larry Hama, Carey Bates, Bruce Jones et al. Art by Alfredo Alcala, Paul Gulacy, Sanjulian et al. Alien terrors and celestial double-crosses abound in Cousin Eerie’s latest collection of strange suspense and science fiction fright! The Rook returns with several time-traveling tales. Here are the beginning and first installments of a sci-fi series Beastworld by Bruce Jones and Alfredo Alcala. A third continuing feature is Mac Tavish, more sci-fi now by artist Moreno Casares. Collecting Eerie #104 to #108, also with Mike Zeck, Walt Simonson, Pepe Moreno et al. Dark Horse, 2016. Mature Readers...More.

Item Code: EER22H
Hard Cover, 9x11, 256pg, Partial Color
$49.99 $39.99

 


BLOOM COUNTY EPISODE XI A NEW HOPE
By Berkeley Breathed. In 2015, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Berkeley Breathed began (without warning!) producing ALL-NEW Bloom County strips--for the first time in more than 25 years! Breathed released the new Bloom County strips exclusively through his Facebook page, to the cheers of devoted and delighted fans everywhere. These brand new strips have NEVER before been available in print--until now! Featuring: Opus, Milo, Bill the Cat, Steve Dallas, Cutter John, and many others, plus up to the moment takes on the race between Hillary and Trump! IDW, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: BCEN
Soft Cover, 10x12, 144pg, Full Color
$17.99 $15.99

More by Berkeley Breathed on our website.
 

Graphic Novels

 


DAWN & VAMPIRELLA Deluxe Signed
Signed! Gold Foil logo and signed bonus plate! Recommended. By Joseph Michael Linsner. Signed by Linsner, the celebrated creator of Dawn, who writes and illustrates the first-ever crossover event for his beloved goddess, teaming her -- and pitting her against -- horror icon Vampirella! When the silver-tongued demon Masodik kidnaps these beautiful, powerful women, he demands that the two engage in a catfight to prove which is best suited as his new paramour. The ladies suggest combat in a more sophisticated and feminine way: by engaging in a storytelling contest. Dynamite, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: DAWVD
Hard Cover, 7x10, 144pg, Full Color
$39.99

This is also available in an unsigned edition [DAWVH. $24.99].
 


MARY ASTOR'S PURPLE DIARY The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936
Highly Recommended. Featuring George S. Kaufman, John Barrymore and Samuel Goldwyn. Art by Edward Sorel. Artist Edward Sorel narrates and illustrates the travails of the Oscar-winning actress and beauty queen with 60 color drawings. Throughout, we get his wry take on all the juicy details of this particular slice of Hollywood Babylon, including Mary's life as a child star, presided over by her tyrannical father (who treated his daughter like an ATM machine), and Mary's teenage love affair with the biggest star of the silent era, the much older John Barrymore, who seduced her on a movie set and convinced her parents to leave them alone together for private "acting lessons." Liveright, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: MAPU
Hard Cover, 7x9, 168pg, Text/Full Color
$25.95 $23.95

Ok, this really isn't quite a graphic novel, it's more of an illustrated book. But with 60 color illustrations, and a very appealing story, it's pretty wild.
 

More 2017 Calendars

 


ALICE IN WONDERLAND 2017 Calendar
Recommended. By Lewis Caroll. An offbeat, appealing year's worth of vintage Alice illustrations from the originals to early 20th century publications. Excellent, little seen work by secondary Alice illustrators from the Golden Age, including Charles Folkard, Alice Woodward, Arthur Rackham, Frank Adams, Maria Kirk, A.E. Jackson and new to us, M.L. Clements (1936). Also the classic Sir John Tenniel, from the original art! Fresh interpretations to the classic story. Any Alice fan should enjoy this. Catch, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: AL17
12x12, 24pg, Full Color
$14.95

 


ART NOUVEAU POSTERS 2017 Calendar
Recommended. By Alphonse Mucha, Jules Chéret, Toulouse-Lautrec et al. The turn of the twentieth century brought an exciting new art form: Art Nouveau posters. They celebrated the joie de vivre (Joy of Life) of the modern age through promoting both commercial products and events. We like the unusual selection here, with images rarely seen in other calendars. We have works by the above creators plus Will Bradley, Eugene Grasset and more little-seen but brilliant designers and draftsmen. Lots of fun. Many are in French, where the movement began. Flame Tree, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: ANP17
12x12, 24pg, Full Color
$14.95

 


TRUE CRIME 2017 Calendar
Recommended. It wasn't just the vintage paperbacks and pulps that featured sexy ladies, femme fatales and sultry vixens. Detective and crime magazines go back more than eighty years and editors there knew that lurid, dynamic covers sold--most of these could be interchangable with pulps (in fact, a couple images ARE from pulps). Fun stuff, all cool painted images (no photos) from titles like Women in Crime, Master Detective, Real Detective, True Detective, Front Page Detective. Bad girls, threatened girls, seductive girls, show girls, and bondage!
Catch, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: TC17
12x12, 24pg, Full Color
$14.95

 


VINTAGE SCI-FI 2017 Calendar
Oversize, 11x15, opens to 30 inches tall. Recommended. One of our best-sellers every year. It's all pulps here, with wonderful covers from Planet Stories (4), Startling (3), Thrilling Wonder (2), Science Fiction and Wonder Stories. This collection of cover art from the Golden Age of Science Fiction--the 1940s and early 1950s--captures the explosion of creativity that took place in America during the pulp era. A collection of 12 archival-quality prints disguised as a calendar. Each month's image is perforated for easy removal and then display as a print. Asgard, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: VINS17
11x15, 24pg, Full Color
$21.95

 


VINTAGE MARVEL COMICS 2017 Calendar
Oversize, 11x15, opens to 30 inches tall. Recommended. It's back to the late 1960s (1963-1971, to be exact). Wonderful vintage artwork by Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Jim Steranko and others, and quintessential covers starring Cap, Spidey, Ant-Man, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Thor, Daredevil, Nick Fury and The Inhumans. Each month's image is perforated for easy removal. A fine selection of classics, even iconic work, like Amazing Spider-Man #29, Nick Fury Agent of Shield #7, Thor #131, Daredevil #43 (vs. Captain America), and Doctor Strange #171. Asgard, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: VIMA17
11x15, 24pg, Full Color
$21.95

 


VINTAGE DC COMICS 2017 Calendar
Oversize, 11 x15, opens to 30 inches tall. Recommended. The Golden Age and the Silver Age meet here, with iconic images of vintage Wonder Woman, World's Finest, Detective #27 with the first appearance of Batman, Showcase with Dr. Fate and Hourman, Brave and the Bold with Green Arrow and Manhunter, Justice League, Kid Flash and Aquaman...a handsome selection of top-notch Golden Age comics covers. Each image is perforated for easy removal to be displayed as an individual poster, and it's big enough to work that way. DC, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: VID17
11x15, 24pg, Full Color
$21.95

See our website for all the 2017 calendars.
 

Flesk Hurt Books Sale

 


THE ART OF CRAIG ELLIOTT
Closeout Price! Signed bookplate. Scuffs, bumps, dust jacket tears. Highly Recommended. This collects the best personal, editorial and privately commissioned work by award-winning artist, Elliott, who has appeared frequently in Spectrum but is usually creating behind the scenes conceptual art for films. Here he is highly praised, with good reason, by fellow artists Peter de Séve, Brom, Mark Schultz and Iain McCaig--who also provides the introduction. Featuring a stunning variety of voluptuous, mostly naked ladies of fantasy and imagination, superbly rendered in brilliant colors. Flesk, 2011. Mature Readers. Note: These copies may have minor bumps to corners and scuffed and torn dust jackets....More.

Item Code: ARTCECH
Hard Cover, 9x12, 68pg, Full Color
$29.95 $14.95

 


JIM SILKE'S JUNGLE GIRLS
Closeout Price! Recommended. By Jim Silke. Fifty never-before-seen images of the fabulous and provocative females in leopard skin bikinis...or less. All created by that renowned modern master of the pinup, Jim Silke. to accompany a history of this "impossible, loony, glorious nonsense" of beautiful girl as jungle goddess. Silke offer us striking photos from films back to the 1930s, of Sheena of the 1950s TV screen, of Jungle Stories pulp magazine covers, and comics like Lorna the Jungle Girl and Jann of the Jungle. Plenty of nudity. Flesk, 2010. Mature Readers. Note: These copies have minor bumps to corners and are slightly scuffed....More.

Item Code: JSJG
Soft Cover, 9x11, 84pg, Full Color
$24.95 $14.95

 
WILLIAM STOUT PREHISTORIC LIFE MURALS
Closeout Price! Slightly damaged. Highly Recommended. Introduction by Ray Harryhausen. Award winning artist Stout examines and displays his amazing dinosaur murals in this trip back to the Stone Age! Containing all of Stout's murals from the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Disney World's Animal Kingdom and the San Diego Natural History Museum, these works are renowned for their scientific accuracy and emotional resonance. Includes details, preliminary studies, and lots of commentary from Bill about each piece. Absolutely beautiful! Flesk, 2009. . Note: These copies have minor bumps to corners and scuffed and imperfect dust jackets....More.

Item Code: WISTH
Hard Cover, 12x10, 144pg, Full Color
$39.95 $17.95
 


ART OF BROM
Closeout Price! Corner bumps, slightly scuffed and torn jackets. Highly Recommended. By Brom. Foreword by Arnie Fenner. Afterword by John Fleskes. Haunting, bizarre, beautiful and macabre--often all in the same work-- Brom's dramatic and powerful paintings have vividly brought to life entire worlds and placed us face-to-face with the wicked, the ungodly and the divine. This lavishly produced retrospective contains over 200 major works spanning Brom's thirty-year career, highlighting his groundbreaking art in games, novels and film. It includes many previously unpublished images and an insightful autobiography allowing a rare glimpse into the soul and mind of this dark fantasy master. Occasional nudity. Flesk, 2013. . Note: These copies have minor bumps to corners....More.

Item Code: ARBRHS
Hard Cover, 9x12, 208pg, Full Color
$44.95 $24.95

 

Statue & Artist’s Edition

 


BATMAN ARKHAM KNIGHT PLAY ARTS KAI BATGIRL Action Figure
Recommended. We're very impressed with both the statue itself, the bonus extras, and the extremely attractive packaging. Square Enix brings the character to life with this new Play Arts KAI figure! Smart, brave, and tough - Batgirl is all three, all expressed in this figure, painstakingly crafted by the artists at Square Enix. Her long hair has been reproduced using flexible materials and ratcheted jointing, while the three-part construction of her cape enables elegant movement and posing. 20 points of articulation, extra hands, gun, batarang. Square Enix. ...More.

Item Code: BATAK
10" tall,
$129.99

 


ALSO AVAILABLE
BATMAN VS SUPERMAN Dawn Of Justice Play Arts Kai Wonder Woman Statue
Recommended. Sculpted by James Marsono. It's a beautiful, retro Wonder Woman, in a handsome non-traditional outfit, from the new Batman vs. Superman story line. We like it. In a gorgeously illustrated box. the cover flips open to reveal  fine illustration and text about the Golden Amazon, and on the right a plexi-window shows her and all the extras. Two extra sets of hands, detachable sword, shield and lasso. There are more superb renderings on the rear of the box. A first class production. From Japan, so availability may be limited. Square Enix, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: BVSD
13" tall, Full Color
$149.99

 


JACK KIRBY KAMANDI The Last Boy On Earth Artist's Edition Volume 2
Recommended. Jack Kirby's epic story of Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth continues! Collecting six consecutive complete issues (11-16) which include the incredible story of Klikklak, the giant grasshopper. In a world full of talking animals, Kamandi struggles to make a life for himself as he searches for his fellow humans in a post-apocalyptic landscape! The raw power of Jack "King" Kirby is evident on every page in this gorgeous Artist's Edition. IDW, 2016. ...More.

Item Code: JKKAE02H
Hard Cover, 12X17, 160pg, b&w
$125.00

 

Coming in October

 
PRE-CODE CLASSICS WEIRD TERROR Volume 1
Collects #1-7, 1952-53. By Don Heck, Rudy Palais, Pete Morisi et al. Hey, it’s all here, culture-lovers: walking dead folks (loads of ‘em)--some of them even still sporting their heads—witches, ghosts, werewolves and enough vampires to go into the second-hand dentures business. Another oddball pre-code horror title, this time from tiny publisher Comic Media, who recognized the talent of Don Heck and used him for many of their best covers on this and other highly collectible titles like Danger, Horrific and Terrific. PS Artbooks, 2016. Due Dec. ...More.

Item Code: PCWT01H
Hard Cover - No Dustjacket, 7x10,
$59.99
 


PRE-CODE CLASSICS THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED Volume 3
Collects #15-21, 1954. Recommended. By Shelly Moldoff, Bob Powell, Dick Giordano, Bob McCarty, Steve Ditko et al. One of my personal favorite titles, this one began under Fawcett and moved into the hands of Charlton, where young Steve Ditko was coming into his own. More stuff in the great tradition of the likes of EC Comics and the PS multiple-volume library of Harvey's horror line-up, featuring a dizzying bevy of gnarled and twisted tales of post-death revenge and retribution. Don't miss out! Collects issues #15-21, February 1954 to November 1954. PS Artbooks, 2016. Due Dec. ...More.

Item Code: PCTM03H
Hard Cover - No Dustjacket, 7x10, Full Color
$59.99

 

Mature Readers

First up, Carter Stevens’ Collegiates Collection DVD offers four complete films from early in the career of this 1970s x-rated filmmaker.

Voluptuous Panic is back in an expanded edition. It’s all about the decadent era in Berlin, after World War I but before the Nazis came to power. It was a time of Burlesque and Clubs and just about anything went...a fully illustrated look at those wild times.

Dave Nestler’s Bad Girl Club is now sale-priced, one of the SQP erotic art books. We already have a few of these at half price, check our website under publisher: SQP.

And we have two matching erotic photography books, Sweet 18 and Hot 19, both by the noted Penthouse and Playboy photographer, Emmanuel D. Fouquet. We’ve had some difficulty getting enough of these to list, so act quickly or there could be a wait while our (slow) supplier gets more in from Europe.

Nude Photography  |  Erotic Art   |  Erotic Films: DVDs  |  Adult Graphic Novels  |  All Pin-Up & Adult

 

News and Notes

Last week we blew through our supply of Bill Sienkiewicz’s New Mutants Artist Select Edition.
Apparently the entire edition of 999 is sold out. We’ll try to get more, but it doesn’t look good. To restate the obvious, reserve your copy early on limited Coming Items like this to avoid being left out. You can check out the other Artist Select editions still available on our website.
Tarzan: The Complete Kubert Years is a massive 610-page softcover but at $25.99, it’s a pretty good deal. And the reason I mention it is that it’s been the fastest selling Tarzan collection we’ve offered in some time. I was reading it myself and it really is well done. Joe Kubert did this from 1972 to 1975, and these were great years for him. He’d always loved Tarzan, as most Golden Age artists grew up reading the novels and seeing the adaptations by Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth.

So Joe did a really beautiful job with this, with dynamic page layouts and a heroic Tarzan that I feel was very much the one I grew up reading in ERB’s original novels. Kubert also worked to adapt the original books in between doing new stories, so we get a wonderful new interpretation of each of ERB’s original novels, beginning with Tarzan of the Apes, then Return of Tarzan, etc.

Kubert’s vision of La of Opar is especially good, I didn’t realize he was so good at drawing beautiful gals. Remember La always had a love/hate relationship with Tarzan, which Jane gets in the middle of while still early in their budding romance.

Also, Kubert filled in a couple issues with actual Foster and Hogarth artwork. The Hogarth was particularly effective, the story being “Land of the Giants.” Kubert gives us two lead-in pages, then beautifully uses Hogarth’s original Sunday pages to offer the story where everyone is half again as big as our hero, including the jungle creatures. It’s from Hogarth’s prime years in the mid 1940s. [ERBTC. $29.99, your price $25.99]

Otto Binder: The Life and Work of a Comic Book and Science Fiction Visionary by Bill Schelly
This has been updated and re-released in a new edition. I liked it so much the first time through, I have now re-read it and enjoyed it even more the second time. Binder’s life offers us an intimate, behind-the-scenes look that parallels the evolution of science fiction fandom, pulps, the Golden Age and Silver Age of comics, and finally comics fandom and the first comics conventions! He’s part of it all!

Otto begins as a fan himself, meets then-fanzine publishers and con-attendees, and future DC editors, Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz in the early 1930s. This was the early days of sci-fi fandom and the first fan conventions. Under the name Eando Binder, working with his brother Earl, he broke into the pulps and is best known for Adam Link, the series of stories about a man-made almost-human robot, first in the pulps, then adapted by EC, and even later adapted by Warren for Creepy and Eerie and collected in paperback editions.

But as the market for pulp fiction dried up, there was big money to be made in comics. Brought in by brother Jack, an artist and “shop” manager, Otto quickly became the primary writer for Fawcett, reputed to have written perhaps 75% of all the Capt. Marvel, Capt. Marvel Jr, Mary Marvel, and Marvel Family stories! That was a good gig and he did great, buying a very nice house and starting his family—with a lovely daughter named Mary.

Then as Fawcett was winding down, Otto jumped on board EC and wrote some 22 stories for them. Eventually he came aboard DC in the late 1950s with his old friends, now editors, Weisinger and Julius Schwartz, and became a very, very important writer for the entire Superman mythos, creating the Bizarro world, members of the Legion of Superheroes, Supergirl (who’s essentially Mary Marvel in new clothes), and far, far more. Before the days of writer credits, he was one of DC’s most important writers for the Superman line, just like he was with Capt. Marvel.

I could go on and on, there are so many interesting stories and discoveries here. I learn more each reading. I carefully picked out far too many quotes to cite here, and I”ve gone on long enough, so let’s just finish with it getting my highest recommendation. [OTTB. $19.95. Our copies come with a bookplate signed by Bill Schelly.]

Red Range will be the next Sam Glanzman collection. It’s a western, unusual for a man most known for his WWII stories and art. Written by Joe Lansdale and published some years ago, I’d forgotten we handled it. Now it has had color added to the artwork and is coming out as a new Kickstarter project, from the same producer who’s done all of Sam’s recent books, including A Sailor’s Story and U.S.S. Stevens. We’re looking forward to it.
Charles Vess has announced a new art book: Walking Through the Landscape of Faerie [WALTHS. $34.95--must call to order]. We’re arranging to have him personally sign our copies and we will also add a wonderful full color bookplate he did for us that’s been secreted away here for several years. Watch for this, it is from the same publisher as the Mythic Coloring Book (with Michael Kaluta) and Winged Beauty Coloring Book--Faerie Magazine.

Charles’ first and still-available collection is Drawing Down the Moon from 2011, published by Dark Horse. This also boasts a very special signed, numbered & illustrated bookplate that we did for his Midsummer Night’s Dream long ago. I just rewrote our description of this and can’t recommend it enough. I’m sure it will be a perfect companion to the new book, since Charles has been a very busy artist of late with more book illustrations and other projects than we can keep up with. It’s wonderful to have them all collected into one lush volume, and it’s a book everyone can enjoy.

~Bud

 

Download our Catalog

We publish a color catalog every two months—if you’ve placed an order in the last 12 months, you will receive it hot off the press. If this is your first order, or if you’d like an extra copy, you can add one to your order: click here. Or call or send us your address and we’ll mail one to you. You can also download it here.

Contact us: csr@budsartbooks.com or 530-273-2166 Mon-Fri 9-4

Download Catalog
 

Website Index

See our website for thousands of books of the Unusual and Hard-to-Find ~ Hundreds on Sale!

~ Artists & Illustration

~ Comic Related

~ Pulps & Fiction

~ Nostalgia & Special Interest

~ Pin-Up & Adult

~ Collector's Supplies