In 1974 Warren Publishing brought back Will Eisner's SPIRIT comic strips in a black & white- quarterly magazine, and I thought that my head was going to explode! I'd seen the Spirit before in 1966 when Harvey comics put out two 68 page Issues. In the early '70s underground publisher Kitchen Sink published an issue, but then it was gone.
I'm a bigger fan of the black and white Spirits than the color version. The Spirit in B&W looks like a mix of WB Bogart movies and Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons, and they read like a Billy Wilder or a Howard Hawks film. It also helped that they would publish some of the continuing stories in order, as well as themed issues like the Christmas Special.
I was "hooked"! I ran out and bought some Illustration Board, brushes and Higgin's black Magic Ink. Instead of just copying Eisner's characters I created my own; gangsters like "No Nose" Nolan and "Combs" Brunetti. The guy peeking into the window was Detective Dent Bender. I did about four or five of these until I was distracted by the next big thing.
This Illustration is from January 6, 1974.
2 comments:
this is a fun idea. everybody should post something they've held on to from their early years.
i know i've got some stuff from college. maybe even something from high school.
more please. and i love that you're sharing so much history and insight.
Thanks John. I really love this forum, and the opportunity to share art and ideas. I've always wanted to have a website, but this is so much easier to maintain. More immediate and personal.
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