Not as easy as you might think… One of the most charming aspects of the beloved 1967 Spider-Man cartoon — which has been getting a lot of attention lately — is its wonky, low-budget animation. But that doesn’t mean it was easy to produce. Dig this piece by reader Joe Otis Costello, who re-created an animation cel of one of the show’s most famous images, and did a video of his process. Thwip! — Dan — By JOE OTIS COSTELLO I recreated a cel for one frame from the opening of Spider-Man ’67 and this video I made highlights just how laborious it was to make animation back then, on the budgets and time frames that constrained the show’s artists. There were a lot of very talented illustrators and animators who worked on the program, and you can see it in the endlessly repeated segments they used. I hope this provides a little insight to anyone curious about the process of animating in the 1960s. — The image is so well known, Hasbro riffed on it for its announcement of the upcoming Spider-Man ’67 action figure 3-pack. — If you’re interested in getting your hands on a re-created cel, Costello has posted an eBay listing. — MORE — FINALLY! HASBRO to Release 1967 SPIDER-MAN CARTOON Action Figure Set. Click here. — The SPIDER-MAN ’67 CARTOON Comic Book We All Want. Click...
MORRISON MONDAYS! By BILL MORRISON Today, I’m remembering a piece I drew a few decades ago, the cover to The Simpsons record titled The Yellow Album. Though its title is a nod to the Beatles “White Album,” the art is a parody of the Fab Four’s earlier release, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In days past, I remember listening to the opening line of the Sgt. Pepper’s album, “It was twenty years ago today…” and thinking, wow, twenty years… an unimaginably long time. Now it seems like a blip, especially when you consider it’s been 59 years (tomorrow) since that groundbreaking collection of songs was released in the United States, and popular music, as well as album cover art, changed forever. The album’s songs were a catchy, experimental assortment that combined the usual rock/pop Beatles sound with a variety of other musical styles, including British music hall, avant-garde, circus music, vaudeville, and classical Indian music. This potpourri of sounds captivated the youth of the world and heralded 1967’s psychedelic “Summer of Love.” Likewise, the cover by pop artists Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, which depicts the Beatles in candy-colored 19th century marching band uniforms posing in front of dozens of celebrities and historic figures, fascinated the record-buying public. This iconic image set a new standard for how rock records would be packaged and marketed. A design as striking and unique as the Sgt. Pepper cover is ripe for parody, and Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were the first to lampoon it with an image on the inner sleeve of their 1968 album, We’re Only in It for the Money. The second such satire came only 30 years later when The Simpsons released its second comedy music collection, The Yellow Album. I had worked with Steve Vance and Cindy Vance to create the album art for the first Simpsons record, The Simpsons Sing the Blues in 1990, and the three of us were also hired to produce the artwork for the follow-up recording, which was to be released in 1993. Unfortunately, the recording was shelved for various reasons and didn’t see the light of day for five years. But in 1996, I got a call from The Simpsons’ production offices, asking if they could borrow my original album cover art to use as reference for a couch gag. The resulting sequence...
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