Great Comic Artists: Dan Parent (Part 1)

I met Dan Parent, one of the great modern Archie artists at New York Comic Con 2013. I managed to get this great Little Archie coloured sketch from him. Parent is known for writing and doing the art on Betty & Veronica (Or B & V, as they have been known to be called recently) since the 90's and I was going to get a Betty or Veronica sketch, but I love Little Archie, my all time favourite Archie Character (Yes, I consider him a different character than the teen Archie), and Parent (as far as I know) hasn't done many Little Archie stories so I thought this would be a unique character to get.

Dan Parent actually graduated from the Joe Kubert School and went a different route to Archie
characters than his fellow graduates.
In 2010, Dan Parent created Kevin Keller, Archie's first gay character and the first Archie comic to sell out in it's entire history.

Wizard Of ID (1/25/71)

Another classic Wizard Of ID gag scanned from the 1975 Fawcett Gold Medal Book, "We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This". Originally published in newspapers on Jan. 25, 1971.

The Untold Legend Of The Batman (1982) (Tor Books)

Front cover (Artwork by Josè Luis Garcia-Lopez & Dick Giordano.

Back cover.

Title: The Untold Legend Of The Batman
Cover Art By: Josè Luis Garcia-Lopez (Pencils) & Dick Giordano (Inks)

Writer: Len Wein

Penciller: Jim Aparo, John Byrne
Inker: Jim Aparo
Letterer: Jim Aparo, John Costanza
Editor: Andrew Helfer, Paul Levitz (Original series)

Genre: Superhero

Printing: First
Printing Date: August, 1982

ISBN: 0-812-50353-8   Can ISBN:0-812-50352-X

Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates (Tor Books)

Book Type: Mass Market Paperback.

Price: 2.95 U.S. * 3.95 Can.
Pages: 160

Interior design and production By Bob Rozakis, Jodi Saviuk & Alex Saviuk.

There are printings of this book from July, 1989 and July, 1992.

This is a reformatted to fit paperback size, black & white reprint of the 1980, three Issue mini-series from DC comics, "The Untold Legend Of The Batman".

There is an ad on the last page for a Tor Books New Teen Titans paperback.

The cover for this book is also the cover for The Untold Legend Of The Batman #3, Sept. 1980.

This story was also reprinted in June 1989 in standard comic size with audio cassettes by MPI, in a special audio edition.

This story was also reprinted in 1989 in standard comic size in a special Batman cereal edition.

Batman By Mike Kaluta

Combining his mastery of horror with the Dark Knight, the great Mike Kaluta declares "Batman Has Gone To Hell" in this sweet Batman pinup from Batman #400, Oct. 1986.

Scanned from Batman No. 400, October 1986.
Art By Mike Kaluta.
The Great Art Adams counts Mike Kaluta as one of his main influences.

Wizard Of ID (1/19/71)

Another classic Wizard Of ID gag scanned from the 1975 Fawcett Gold Medal Book, "We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This". Originally published in newspapers on Jan. 19, 1971.

Wizard Of ID (1/30/71)

Here's a classic newly colored and reformatted Wizard Of ID gag I scanned from the 1975 Fawcett Gold Medal Book, "We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This". The dry humour is clearly on display here.

Scanned from "We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This", Fawcett Gold Medal Books. (1975)
Originally published in newspapers on January 30, 1971.

Wizard Of ID (Fawcett Books)

On November 9, 1964, The Wizard Of ID began appearing in newspaper strips. Created by B.C. creator Johnny Hart & Brant Parker, The Wizard Of ID was set during medieval times in the Kingdom Of ID, following many characters such as the dwarf sized, King ID, The title character The Wizard, Rodney, the King's main Knight, & the alcoholic court jester, Bung, among several others. Most of the strips are one a day gags but on several occasions  they have tended to story arc the gags for weeks at a time.While the humor is usually broad, dark and dry and not everyone's cup of tea, the strip has managed to last 49 years and is still being published as of this writing.
In 1969 until 1986, Fawcett Gold Medal books began publishing 24 paperback collections of the strip featuring around 130 pages or so in each. A few of these are scanned below:

The King Is A Fink! (Book 1)
Fawcett Gold Medal Books.
Published 1969, Featuring strips from 1964 & 1965.

The King Is A Fink! (Back Cover)

There's A Fly In My Swill! (Book 5)
Fawcett Gold Medal Books.
Published 1973, Featuring strips from 1967 & 1968.

There's A Fly In My Swill! (Back Cover)

Yield (Book 7)
Fawcett Gold Medal Books.
Published 1974, Featuring strips from 1968 & 1969.

Yield (Back Cover)

Long Live The King! (Book 9)
Fawcett Gold Medal Books.
Published 1975, Featuring strips from 1970.

Long Live The King! (Back Cover)

Thor: Marvel Fanfare Pinups

I know these have been seen before on other blogs, but with Thor: The Dark World released today in North American theatres, I thought I'd post a couple of the Thunder God's portfolio pages I personally scanned from the much beloved 1982-1991 anthology title Marvel Fanfare. One from "the not for everyone" style of Bill Sienkiewicz and the other, a comedic piece from Terry Austin, known primarily as an inker but has dabbled in a few pencilling duties such as covers and backup pinups from time to time.

Scanned from Marvel Fanfare Vol. 1, No. 8, May 1983.
Art by Bill Sienkiewicz.
Sienkiewicz's Neal Adams influence is clearly on display in this extremely happy rendition of Thor.
This is before BS began doing the unique abstract painted pieces which he has become famous for.

Scanned from Marvel Fanfare Vol. 1, No. 18, January 1985.
Art by Terry Austin.
This is a cute piece from Austin, who resurrected the 1940's Timely funny animal characters, Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal.
Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal were created by Al Jaffe, the legendary cartoonist responsible for the Mad Fold-In.
Terry Austin would once again draw Ziggy Pig in the April 1984 Marvel Fumetti book in a story written by Mike Carlin.

R.I.P. Nick Cardy (1920-2013)

Sadly, legendary comic book artist Nick Cardy passed away on Nov. 3, 2013, he had just turned 93 on Oct. 20.I'm a huge fan of the 1970's DC Horror line, many of which Cardy drew interior stories and covers for. I always loved how he drew children and women, kind of had a Jack Kamen, Johnny Craig style about them. His work is timeless and will never be forgotten. Here's a few covers of his that I scanned from my collection...

                                                       Unexpected #127 (September 1971)

                                                       Witching Hour #27 (January 1973)

Witching Hour #40 (March 1974)

 Witching Hour #43 (June 1974)

          Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour Volume One (2011)

     Cover artwork reprinted from Witching Hour #4 (Aug-Sept. 1969)

                      Showcase Presents: Secrets Of Sinister House (2010)

         Cover artwork reprinted from Secrets Of Sinister House #5 (June-July 1972)

            Wanted, The World's Most Dangerous Villains #5 (January, 1973)

Justice League Of America #113 (Sept.-Oct. 1974)