MORRISON MONDAYS! By BILL MORRISON We live in a timeline in which there are lots of made-up holidays and observances for every day of the year, and though many of them are ridiculous and contrived, I really like one of the observances for today, November 9. It’s National Go to an Art Museum Day! I think as a society we tend to take art museums for granted. So, a day that reminds us that they exist, and urges us to visit and support them because they contain incredible artworks that we can see in person? That’s a worthwhile thing. I once drew a cover for a Simpsons poster book, pretentiously titled The Simpsons Masterpiece Gallery, that I think serves nicely as an image to promote this special day. It’s also an homage to Norman Rockwell’s painting for the January 13, 1962, edition of The Saturday Evening Post, titled “The Connoisseur.”) The oversize book is out of print, but for Simpsons fans in need of wall décor, it’s well worth the hunt. It’s full of Bongo Comics covers and other splashy art, presented without logos or any kind of trade dress, and suitable for framing. To further inspire a visit to your local art museum, I’ll share a story from my art school days. I attended college at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, which is now the College for Creative Studies, where I’m currently an adjunct professor. The Detroit Institute of Arts, a world-class museum that contains important works, such as “Self Portrait With Straw Hat” by Vincent Van Gogh, “The Wedding Dance” by Pieter Bruegel, and several Diego Rivera murals, is located very conveniently right across the street from the school. As a young art student, the close proximity of the museum to the school made it possible for me to visit the DIA at will. One day, while roaming the museum galleries on my lunch hour, I saw a large group of people circled around a very tall man who was speaking and gesturing toward a painting. The man was obviously conducting a guided tour, but he didn’t seem like a typical tour guide. I had the sense that he was an art historian of some sort who had brought a group to the museum to show them around and talk about some of the notable...
A MORRISON MONDAYS birthday tribute! By BILL MORRISON On this day in in 1927, Steve Ditko was born! Imagine if that had never happened. We wouldn’t have the Amazing Spider-Man, or Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts! No Creeper or Hawk and Dove either! I wanted to draw a Ditko homage for today’s column, in tribute to his fantastic creations, but a couple of pesky jobs got in the way of my play time. Then, I remembered a cover I did for 2005’s Simpsons Super Spectacular #1, a flip cover actually, featuring Bongo’s Atomic Avenger, Radioactive Man. At the time, the Irradiated Crusader’s exploits were being penned by the late, great Batton Lash, and he had written and drawn a fun retelling of RM’s origin story for the issue, plus two more tales, all in the style of Steve Ditko (with inks by none other than Michael T. Gilbert). Bat also provided me with a rough layout for the cover, an homage to Ditko’s co-creation (with Joe Gill,) Captain Atom. My final image parodies the cover of Charlton’s Strange Suspense Stories #75 (June 1965), which features a Ditko drawing of Captain Atom that was lifted from the first appearance of the character in Space Adventures #33 (March 1960). I don’t know if Matt Groening or the Simpsons show writers were inspired by Captain Atom when they came up with Radioactive Man, but given their similarities, Ditko’s co-creation was a perfect target for us to parody in one of Ol’ Bolt Head’s exploits, and I’m glad Batton thought of it. If you can find the super-size, 52-page first issue, I highly recommend it. Batton and Michael showed a lot of love for Mr. Ditko, including a great Gorgo parody, “Radioactive Man and Roargo.” — Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below! — MORE — Oh, Boy! I Got Me a ‘New’ 1960s BEN COOPER BATMAN Play Suit! Click here. — BERNIE WRIGHTSON’s JENIFER Still Haunts Me — More Than 50 YEARS Later. Click here. — Eisner winner BILL MORRISON has been working in comics and publishing since 1993 when he co-founded Bongo Entertainment with Matt Groening, Cindy Vance and Steve Vance. At Bongo, and later as Executive Editor of Mad Magazine, he parodied the comics images he loved as a kid every chance he got. Not much has...
