Thursday, July 29, 2010

Creepy #73: "The Argo Standing By!"


Download Creepy #73




Alone. That's what Frawley was. Sealed within a sterile environment. Hurtling between this galaxy and the next. While the nations of Earth bombed each other out of existence!

A tale written by Budd Lewis and illustrated by Paul Neary during the Cold War era.










Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Chamber of Darkness #4: "The sword and the Sorcerers!"


Download Chamber of Darkness #4



A writer who is selling barbarian stories of Starr the Slayer (can you say Conan the Barbarian?) that come to him in dreams plans to kill off Starr in the next story because the dreams are putting too much of a strain upon his health. On his way to the office, Starr assaults him out of an alley with accusations of assassin upon his lips. The writer is unbelieving, but I won't give the ending away.

This is a tale only as Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith could have told!







Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Astonishing #57: "The Unknown Ones!" (Al Williamson art)


Download Astonishing #57



I was burning the midnight oil and in a weird mood when stumbled across this old Atlas comic book with gorgeous Al Williamson ((March 21, 1931 – June 12, 2010) art inside. Aside from the fact that I am a huge Williamson (and Alex Raymond) fan, I just plain love this retro stuff and science fiction in general. This was published in January of 1957. Enjoy!




Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Beautiful Mick Austin Cover Painting


Download Alien Encounters #8



Michael J. "Mick" Austin is a fine artist who lives and works in the UK. Initially a comic book artist and illustrator his painterly style led to him leaving this genre and concentrating on fine art in 1996.

Mick Austin started his artistic career in 1981 for Marvel Comics producing cover art and a very brief 'Timesmasher' (written by the then editor Paul Neary) series and also Blakes Seven before moving onto Warrior mainly painting cover art for which he won an Eagle Award in 1982 for his Marvelman cover. He then drew both Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson for 2000 AD between 1989 and 1995. He also drew the computer game based strip Urban Strike during this period, various Tharg's Future Shocks and the featured strip in Doctor Who Magazine during this period.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

American Squalor: Remembering Harvey Pekar (1939-2010)

Harvey Lawrence Pekar (October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010) was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a critically acclaimed film adaptation of the same name.

Shortly before 1 a.m. on July 12, 2010, Pekar's wife found him dead in his Cleveland Heights, Ohio, home.Though no immediate cause was determined, Pekar had been suffering from prostate cancer.

In an article provided by Exclaim! Magazine, Paul Giamatti quotes, "Harvey was one of the most compassionate and empathetic human beings I've ever met. He had a huge brain and an even bigger soul. And he was hilarious. He was a great artist, a true American poet, and there is no one to replace him."


American Squalor, as only Del Close could have written it:










Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Marvel Treasury Edition #4 Featuring Conan The Barbarian: "Red Nails"


Download Marvel Treasury Edition #4 - Conan



Contents:
"Rogues in the House"
"The Talons of Thak"
"Red Nails"
"The Lurker from the Catacombs"
"He Comes from the Dark"

Roy Thomas (Writer), Barry Windsor-Smith (illustrator)