THE ESCAPIST SERIAL That Should Have Been (Or, How I Was Once Mistaken For a Nazi)
MORRISON MONDAYS!
WHAT IF the 1949 BATMAN and ROBIN SERIAL Posters Were Drawn by DICK SPRANG?
A MORRISON MONDAYS anniversary salute!
A MORRISON MONDAYS (early) birthday tribute! By BILL MORRISON Tomorrow, Feb. 17, is the birthdate of the artist who was most identified with Superman during the Silver-Age of comics, Curt Swan. As a DC Comics-loving kid in the Swingin’ ’60s, Curt’s covers for Action Comics, Adventure Comics, Superman, World’s Finest, and Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen jumped out at me from the spinner rack of our local bookstore in Lincoln Park, Michigan, and much of my weekly allowance of a dollar was spent on those books (especially when there were no new Batman comics on sale!) One memorable cover for me was the one he drew in 1967 for Superman #201, inked by George Klein. With so many great Swan covers to choose from, it’s hard to say which one is my favorite, but this one stands out for me. Back in 1993 when Steve Vance, Cindy Vance, Matt Groening, and I were launching Bongo Comics, I was asked to come up with an image for an ashcan-size comic that would reprint our Bartman story from the pre-Bongo Simpsons Comics and Stories #1. The mini-comic, Bartman and Radioactive Man, was to be a promotional insert in an issue of Hero Illustrated magazine. In this story, Bartman doesn’t team up with Radioactive Man, but the Irradiated Crusader is there in a big way, as inspiration for the fledgling hero. So, I wanted to draw a cover that featured Radioactive Man prominently without showing the two characters interacting. Without much pondering that I can recall, Mr. Swan’s Superman #201 cover with its large hero figure looming in the background came to mind. The story we were reprinting, “Lo, there shall come a Bartman,” was, as the title suggests, an origin story, and not about Bartman giving up on being a superhero. (That would come later in Bartman #4, when I paid homage to John Romita’s iconic Amazing Spider-Man #50 cover.) No, Bartman was just getting started, but I decided to ignore the concept of a hero calling it quits, and embrace the cover’s design. It was, I felt, the perfect solution for what I wanted to communicate. With this finished cover, along with my original pencils, I celebrate the greatness of Curt Swan and thank him for many years of artistic inspiration. — Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a...
A MORRISON MONDAYS birthday salute! By BILL MORRISON I’ve always considered the work of Frank Frazetta to have had a big influence on my art. I know it doesn’t really show very much, but there was a time in art school when I bought every Frazetta art book available, had posters of his paintings on my bedroom walls, scribbled barbarian drawings in my sketchbooks, etc. So, in thinking about the anniversary of his birth — he was born Feb. 9, 1928 — I started pondering whether I’d ever done a Simpsons parody of one of Frank’s pieces. I know I did an homage to Frank’s cover of Famous Funnies #211, with Stan Sakai’s Space Usagi standing in for Buck Rogers, but I thought must have also done a Frazetta satire with Homer, Bart, Marge, et al. I went back through 36 years of Simpsons comic covers, prints, video game box covers, magazine promotional images, etc., but nothing came up. Then, suddenly, I remembered that I did pay tribute to Frazetta, not with a Simpsons image, but with Turanga Leela and Phillip J. Fry from Matt Groening’s other show, Futurama. It’s not a direct parody, but it was definitely inspired by Frank’s iconic Conan the Adventurer paperback cover. Leela’s pose doesn’t exactly mimic Conan’s on that cover, but the fact that she’s standing triumphantly on a pile of vanquished bodies (dismembered robots, in this case) and has a sycophant clinging to her leg (in this case, Fry,) makes the image unmistakably a Frazetta swipe. This drawing appeared as the center spread of the 2015 Futurama Wall Calendar, and was offered as a poster at the Bongo Comics booth at San Diego Comic-Con that year. I remain in awe of Frank Frazetta’s work, as I was in art school. And I think it’s high time I drew a Simpsons homage to one of his amazing images. Maybe I’ll have that to show by next year at this time! (For more Frazetta birthday shenanigans, check out Peter Bosch’s piece over here. — Dan) — Want more MORRISON MONDAYS? Come back next week! Want a commission? See below! — MORE — GEE WHIZ, SANDMAN: It’s OK to Meet Your Heroes — Especially in the Men’s Room. Click here. — CATWOMAN’s Caught in a BAT ROMANCE — Again! Click here. — Eisner winner BILL MORRISON has been...
MORRISON MONDAYS!
A MORRISON MONDAYS anniversary salute!
