MY COLLECTION, 34) February 27, 2016

I’m taking a few days off from my serialized posting of the original art pages to my uncollected 1994 graphic novel, “The Mark In America” to post and blog about one of the highlights of my collection, the complete set of all 9 pages of original artwork, by Lee Elias, to “Banker’s Holiday”, starring the Black Cat. The story was first printed in “Black Cat” #2, published by Harvey Comics in August/September 1946, reprinted in “Black Cat” #10 (1948), and still later in “The Original Black Cat” #5, published by Lorne-Harvey in 1991. This is page #5.

Speaking of circular motifs, Elias does it twice on page 5, almost exactly the same size as the bank vault on page 4. This effect would be striking whether the pages were printed across from each other or not.  

Panel 1 is especially striking, given that the open bank vault in the BG is almost exactly the same size (and shape) as the circular panel border and is symmetrically placed within the composition. I also find it interesting that the circular panels are held within the rectangle of the over-all page, framed by black, instead of being allowed to float freely. 

We get a fun close up on the angry bank robber in panel 5, the only close up, as such, in the entire 9 pages.

What an odd storytelling choice, especially in a story featuring a beautiful woman. Elias tends to keep her full figure as much as possible, as shown in the fight panels 4 and 6.

This is page #5 of 9 from “Banker’s Holiday”, starring Black Cat, from Black Cat #2, published by Harvey Comics in 1946.

MY COLLECTION #33, February 26, 2016

I’m taking a few days off from my serialized posting of the original art pages to my uncollected 1994 graphic novel, “The Mark In America” to post and blog about one of the highlights of my collection, the complete set of all 9 pages of original artwork, by Lee Elias, to “Banker’s Holiday”, starring the Black Cat. The story was first printed in “Black Cat” #2, published by Harvey Comics in August/September 1946, reprinted in “Black Cat” #10 (1948), and still later in “The Original Black Cat” #5, published by Lorne-Harvey in 1991. This is page #4.

This page is fantastic for the spotting of blacks. The entire page works beautifully as a single image, but each panel can be isolated and studied individually with great pleasure.

Panel #1: The second beautifully composed and inked crowd scene, highlighting Elias’s skill with manipulating layers of depth.

Panel #2: The Black Cat on the prowl, giving Elias a chance to strut his Good Girl drawing stuff.

Panel #3: Is this cool or what? The dark interior of the bank, with the iconic shadow of the cat on the wall in the BG; in the FG we have The Black Cat, basically a white silhouette on a black BG. Unfortunately the coolness of this graphic was, I imagine, somewhat lost in the printed version due to the dark blue colors on Ms. B.C.’s uniform.

Panel #4: another virtuoso display of black spotting: the circular open bank vault ROCKS, both is its overall shape and the details of hardware picked out in bits of white.

Panel #5: the circular motif is echoed in cropped form, creating waves of ‘C’s spreading left to right across the panel. This repetition, in panels 4 and 5, gives the entire page a pleasing quality I mentioned earlier. The other repetition/variation is, panels 2, 3, 4 and 5 all foreground similarly sized small figures framed by ominous looming black shapes, resolving in:

Panel #6: where we have a pleasing medium shot of our heroine noticing the still-lit cigarette. I find the streaky black ink brushwork partially filling the background to be an interesting, somewhat incongruous effect. I would have filled the whole area with black, picking out the front edge of the desk with a white highlight. I presume Mr. Elias reasoned that Black Cat’s costume would disappear into a completely black BG. I notice he didn’t have a similar problem in panel 3 (or, at least, didn’t acknowledge it). It would be interesting to see what the colorist did with this page.

This is page #4 of 9 from “Banker’s Holiday”, starring Black Cat, from Black Cat #2, published by Harvey Comics in 1946.

MY COLLECTION #32, February 25, 2016

32)

February 25, 2016

I’m taking a few days off from my serialized posting of the original art pages to my uncollected 1994 graphic novel, “The Mark In America” to post and blog about one of the highlights of my collection, the complete set of all 9 pages of original artwork, by Lee Elias, to “Banker’s Holiday”, starring the Black Cat. The story was first printed in “Black Cat” #2, published by Harvey Comics in August/September 1946, reprinted in “Black Cat” #10 (1948), and still later in “The Original Black Cat” #5, published by Lorne-Harvey in 1991. These are pages #2 and #3.

Panel #1 of page #2 is a reprise, an echo of panel #2 from page #1; similar yet different. The “camera” has trucked out and raised to near eye level, giving the impression of a slight time elapse, mostly because the dialogue in the first panel indicated greeting and introductions and the second is the start of action.

All of the panels but #3 on page #2 have heightened, almost exaggerated depth of field. Students of inking technique should study the manner in which Elias separates the layers, keeping the panels clear and readable in spite of the rather intricate details. I’m especially impressed by panel 5, where the gun Linda has trained on Wililams doesn’t disappear into the movie crew behind it. And check out panel #4, how Mr. De Pille in the foreground is separated from the background figures by an occasional (but not omnipresent) thin halo of white.

Page #2, panel #6 seems somewhat awkward however; Williams shoots the gun out of Linda’s hand while running toward the horse in the foreground. The detailing on the horse’s saddle seems overly ornate until one reads page #3, panel #1, which show Williams and horse galloping off into the distance. Elias’s judicial use of detailing and placement has rendered it unnecessary to depict all the intervening steps (Williams mounting the horse, spurring it, etc).

My main quibble is that the important action, Linda’s gun getting shot out of her hands, seems poorly composed; unlike panel 5, here the gun DOES disappear into the background. It seems to me that with only slight adjustment it would have been possible to silhouette that action in the open door Williams has just run through.

On Page #3, things start to heat up, inking-virtuosity-wise and plot-wise, that is. Panels #3, 4, 5 & 6 are one-after-another impressive displays of highly detailed yet crisply and freshly inked compositions with admirable depth of field. Panel 5 is especially striking as a depiction of a crowd one doesn’t get lost in.

These are pages 2 & 3 of “Banker’s Holiday”, starring Black Cat, from Black Cat #2, published by Harvey Comics in 1946.

MY COLLECTION #31, February 24, 2016

31) February 24, 2016

I’m taking a few days off from my serialized posting of the original art pages to my uncollected 1994 graphic novel, “The Mark In America” to post and blog about one of the highlights of my collection, the complete set of all 9 pages of original artwork, by Lee Elias, to “Banker’s Holiday”, starring the Black Cat. The story was first printed in “Black Cat” #2, published by Harvey Comics in August/September 1946, reprinted in “Black Cat” #10 (1948), and still later in “The Original Black Cat” #5, published by Lorne-Harvey in 1991. This is page #1.

I bought all 9 pages at Comic-Con International 2002 (I think) for a mere $700. The dealer had a lot of different examples of Elias as I recall, but none as good as this. By this time in the late afternoon (on Friday?) I had already surpassed my budgeted limit but this was too good to pass up, so I made a quick beeline to the nearest ATM and returned with the cash in a flash. After I had the pages securely in my sweaty hands I asked the dealer why he was selling so cheap. “It’s on consignment”, he shrugged. Whatever. I could have seen paying more than $700 for this single page (much MUCH more than that, now). Actually, I paid another $250 for it, to Gordon G. Christman, renowned original comic art restorer, to imitate and place the original logo. Perfectionist that he was (in March 2012), he managed to simulated the tanning of the rest of the piece. I’m posting the before and after versions for your delectation.

The splash panel…Talk about iconographic, frightening, appealing, appalling, beautifully inked, and staged. My jaws hung open when I first saw it. I imagine Dr. Fredrick Werthram seeing it as well, filing it along with his other examples of pornographic filth perverting the minds of young Caucasian Americans. I’m surprised EC didn’t swipe this image for Shock Suspense Stories. And I love the grace note of the lynch mob’s calves, horse’s legs, clumps of grass, the shadows on tree along the bottom edge of the panel.

THEN there’s the first story panel taking up the bottom 3^rd of the page: more sedate but still awesome in its simplicity, terseness and almost casual skill. I LOVE how he spots the blacks on the foreground figures versus the middle ground moviemaking hardware versus the background small town building facades. It tells you everything you need to know about the setting and characters, all in one concise image. It pleases me to imagine that Mr. Elias was almost shaking with the knowledge that he was on fire as he completed this page. And it gets better from here. (To Be Continued)

This is page #1 of “Banker’s Holiday”, starring Black Cat, from Black Cat #2, published by Harvey Comics in 1946.

THE MARK IN AMERICA, ISSUE 1, COVER

I am posting my design for the cover of The Mark in America issue #1, alongside Jim Rhon’s re-design and color rendering. I don’t know whether Jim was directed by the editor to make these changes or did them on his own initiative. I guess turn about is fair play. Given my cavalier attitude towards Mike Barr’s script, it would be churlish of me to complain about similar liberties being taken with my pencils. I prefer my version, but Mr. Rohn’s has a distinctive graphic simplicity about it. Mr. Rohn created “The Holo Brothers” and was active in the

comics industry in the early 90’s. Does anybody have any more information on him?