Monthly Archives: May 2022

Tillie (April 8, 1941)

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“Tillie” (April 8, 1941)
by Russ Westover (1886-1966)
3.5 x 6.5 in., ink on an envelope
Coppola Collection

Initially a sports artist in California in the 1910s, Westover moved to NY and became a strip artist at the NY Herald. He worked on his concept of a flapper character in a strip he titled “Rose of the Office.” And with a title change to “Tillie the Toiler,” it sold to King Features Syndicate. Leaving the Herald, he began “Tillie the Toiler” for King Features in 1921, and the working-girl strip quickly established a wide readership, leading to a 1927 film adaptation by Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Pictures with Marion Davies as Tillie.

During the late 1920s, more than 600 papers were carrying “Tillie The Toiler.” Cupples & Leon published a series of at least eight “Tillie the Toiler” reprint collections beginning in the 1920s and continuing into the 1930s. Westover profited from another movie when Kay Harris appeared in the title role of Columbia Pictures’ “Tillie the Toiler” (released in August 1941). Westover retired in the early 1950s.

During WWII, Tillie, like other comic strip characters, joined the Army during WWII. This color profile portrait of Tillie, in uniform, pre-dates the US entry into the War, and was done on a postmarked envelope, dated April 8, 1941. The three stamps are all “For Defense” stamps used during WWII. This may be the only known WWII specialty piece by Westover.

The stamps are not trivial. By the summer of 1940, Americans wanted nothing to do with the European conflicts overseas, holding tightly to their isolationist ideals.

Roosevelt realized it was only a matter of time until Adolf Hitler would narrow his focus on the Western Hemisphere, and felt it was his duty to prepare the nation for when that time came. Roosevelt’s first action to put an end to the American isolationism.

Part of Roosevelt’s plan was to issue postage stamps to educate the public. He provided sketches of what he envisioned to the Post Office Department, and the final designs stayed true to the President’s vision.  The stamps were each labeled with their purpose “For Defense” and included inscriptions honoring Industry, Agriculture, Army, Navy, Security, Education, Conservation, and Health as important aspects of the national well-being.

The new stamps were issued on October 16, 1940, which was also the first day of registration for America’s first peacetime draft.  When the stamps were issued many more Americans supported the importance of preparedness and the stamps served as a constant reminder of the importance of a strong national defense.  These stamps would go on to be the workhorses of the American postal system during the war.  Between the three issues, a total of 19,677,985,200 stamps were issued, more than any other US stamp series up to that time.

Bringing Up Father (June 7, 1941)

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“Bringing Up Father” (June 7, 1941)
by George McManus (1884-1954) and Zeke Zekley (1915-2005)
23.25 x 5.75 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

In 1904, young George McManus was hired by Pulitzer’s New York World as a cartoonist. While he was there he created such strips as The Newlyweds, which comics historians consider the first family comic strip. In 1912, William Randolph Hearst hired McManus away to start a comic strip about a guy called Jiggs, a lower class man who came into a lot of money. With their new wealth, Maggie, Jiggs’ wife, wanted to enter the upper crust of society but Jiggs just wanted to hang out with his old friends at the local bar playing cards and pool and eat his simple favorite foods. This is the classic strip Bringing Up Father.

McManus had masterful line work with a strong deco feel to his designs. Over time, he developed the recurring motif of animating the background paintings in certain panels, and this is generally delightful.

The whimsy in the funny papers often sits in sharp contrast to the news of the day.

The news from the day before featured FDR’s worry, during a press conference, that many Americans were being duped by German propaganda into believing that Britain was on the verge of collapse and would soon be suing for peace.

Isolationism (neutrality) was still the rule of the day in the US. Lend-Lease had begun in March as a way around the protests against outright aid to Britain.

On this date, the first US Lend-Lease planes were flown to Maine and shoved over border into Canada, because the neutrality laws forbid landing in Canada.

And the German invasion of Russia was only a few weeks away.

What a Headache We’re Building Up

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“What a Headache We’re Building Up” (July 5, 1941)
by Grover Page (1892-1958)
9 x 11 in., ink on drawing board
Coppola Collection

Page was born a few days after the election of Grover Cleveland to the presidency. That’s how the future cartoonist got his name. He decided at age ten on his calling and began drawing at the Gastonia public schools. He completed his formal education at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. Page became an editorial cartoonist at age eighteen with the Baltimore Sun. After working for the Nashville Tennessean for two years, Page moved on to the Louisville Courier-Journal. He spent the next thirty-nine years there drawing pointed and strongly opinionated cartoons.

The year 1941 was a critical one in WW2. The Germans had turned on Russia, with Operation Barbarossa, on June 22, and the Nazis were carrying out the heaviest bombings on England with the heavy threat of invasion in the wind. The initial thrust of the invasion of Russia was strong for the Germans, and by July 3, Stalin made a broadcast calling on the people of the Soviet Union to pursue a scorched earth policy and conduct guerrilla warfare against the invaders.

Still sequestered and under the sway of the isolationists, FDR made an Independence Day broadcast warning that “the United States will never survive as a happy and fertile oasis of liberty surrounded by a cruel desert of dictatorship. And so it is that when we repeat the great pledge to our country and to our flag, it must be our deep conviction that we pledge as well our work, our will, and, if it be necessary, our very lives.”

There is contemporary evidence that Stalin might have been planning his own invasion of German territory, particularly boldened by a strong air force, but the long-planned Barbarossa quashed that immediately. Churchill reached out to Stalin as soon as Bararossa started, and, by July 12, he was in Moscow to sign a cooperation pact with Stalin. Still months before Pearl Harbor would bring the US into the conflict, the blueprint for Germany’s reach exceeding its grasp was being laid down.

 

This cartoon, from the day after FDR’s address, reinforces the critical neglect displayed by the US as country after country had fallen to the Nazis, and now, early in the invasion of Russia, there is a commentary of fear that Stalin will fall, also, as had those before him.

Five Years #7 p 11

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“Five Years” #7 p 11 (January 2020)
by Terry Moore (1954- )
11 x 17 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

In 2019-20, Terry Moore wove together the many different pieces of his comics universe into two novels. The 10-part “Five Years” and the one-shot “Ever.” In “Five Years,” themes and characters from Strangers in Paradise, Rachel Rising, Motor Girl, and Echo all collide as the world nations race to create the universe-ending Phi Bomb… all in the name of Cold War deterrence. Meanwhile, the architect of destruction, Lilith, is orchestrating the 5-year countdown to the end of everything. In “Ever,” which is sort of a prequel to everything (including what happened in Eden before Adam and Eve, which was attempt 2.0), the true history of Lilith is uncovered, and provides more background for all of the series.

Born into a dangerous Yakuza family, Yousaka Takahashi was an LA gang leader by the age of 15. While one of his victims lie dying in his arms, Yousaka had a spiritual revelation and in recognition of his atonement took the name of his victim, David Qin. His half-sister controlled the powerful assassin-spy group, the Parker Girls, and David ends up being sent to spy on Katina “Katchoo” Choovanski, one of the two main protagonists in Strangers in Paradise, who had stolen money from the Parker cartel. David inherits over a billion dollars after his half-sister is killed, and he and Katchoo become the target of an assassination attempt when their aircraft is sabotaged. Although it takes years, David eventually and tragically succumbs to brain injuries he got in the plane crash, but not before he impregnates Katchoo.

Yousaka “David Qin” Takahashi was my favorite character from SIP, as you might be able to tell from all the sketches in my collection.

The page shown here was my top choice to have from “Five Years,” and it was available. Having just arrived in Moscow to help stop the Phi Bomb group, Katchoo is summarily tossed from a fifth story window into packed snow. Barely alive, she is visited by the spirit of David Qin and appears outside of her own body as they have a touching reunion. She tells him about their daughter, and he says he knows. At the end of this 4-page sequence, David pushes her spirit back into her body to revive her.

Thanks to Robyn Moore for being willing to plop the page in front of Terry with my request for a David sketch along with the dedication.

The Man Who Caught the Wildcat

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“The Man Who Caught the Wildcat” (December 22, 1939)
by Bill Saylor
10 x 12 in., ink on drawing board
Coppola Collection

Bill Saylor was the editorial cartoonist at the Houston Post, was a Corporal in the Marines during WW2, and retired from the Houston Post in the late 70’s.

The Battle of Summa was fought between the Soviet Union and Finland, in two phases, first in December 1939 and then in February 1940. It was part of the “Winter War” and was fought near the village of Summa (now Soldatskoye) along the main road leading from Leningrad to Viipuri.

The village of Summa was a gateway to the city of Viipuri. The Finns had built 41 reinforced concrete bunkers in the Summa area, and the defense line was stronger than elsewhere in the Karelian Isthmus. However, the Finns had made mistakes in planning and nearby Munasuo swamp, east of Summa, had a kilometer-wide gap in the line. At least 20 tanks drove through the line in the first day of battle, but the Soviets did not have proper co-operation between branches of service; tanks, artillery and troops fought their own battles. The Finns stood still in trenches and allowed the Soviet tanks to move behind the defense line on December 19th, as they did not have proper anti-tank weapons. After that the Finns repelled the Soviet main troops. Soviet tanks cut-off behind the line aimlessly attacked Finnish strongpoints, but once these were eliminated the threat was over. The Finns won the battle on December 22.

El Carim (Master Comics 7, October 1940, p. 27)

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“El Carim” (Master Comics 7, October 1940, p. 27)
by Sven Elven (1897-1969)
18 x 24 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

El Carim was a master of the mystical arts. He was visited by the spirit of Wizzar, the father of all magic, who gives him a magic cloak. He uses his cloak and backwards-recited magic to fight criminals and evildoers assisted by the lovely Gladys. El Carim spelled backwards is “Miracle.”

Sven Elven (nee Hubert Frykholm) legally adopted the name Sven Elven after immigrating to the US. Sven worked in the comic book industry during its earliest days, in the 1930s, with lots of DC work appearing in Detective Comics (34 appearance, including #1, 1937, & #27, 1939), and in Action Comics (17 appearances, including #1, 1938). He drew features like ‘Captain Quick’, ‘Cosmo, The Phantom of Disguise’, ‘Marco Polo’, ‘Pirate Gold’, ‘Three Musketeers’ and ‘Treasure Island’ for National/DC, and additionally worked for Centaur (‘Miraco the Great’) and Fawcett (‘El Carim’, ‘Jungle Twins’). After comics, he worked at Emerson Electric Co, from which he retired in about 1967. Sven died in a farming accident in Bennington, VT.

Page 7 from the 7-page story ” The Menace of the House of Monsters” featuring the character El Carim, and is joined by pages 1 and 6 (elsewhere in the collection).

Cerebus High Society (Regency Edition) slipcase cover and print art

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“Cerebus High Society (Regency Edition)” slipcase and print art
by Dave Sim (1956-)
11 x 17, acrylic on board
Coppola Collection

As of Jan 15, 2021, the status of this art changed from “commission” to “illustration” and “unpublished” to “published” as it has now been used as the slipcase illustration for the hardcover Regency Edition of High Society, as well as for the included postcards, trading cards, and a set of limited-edition art prints included with the two higher-end edition options (20 at life size, 11×17 in; and 50 at 6.5×10 in).

The scan I made is being used for this stuff (as was the scan of my cover from Cerebus #91, which was used as the cover to the Cover Treasury Edition… but obviously it had been previously published as that cover).

This painting was originally done in 2010 and auctioned off following a CerebusTV episode.

Dave used Debbie “Blondie” Harry as the model for the Regency Elf in this painting, in case you were listening to music in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and she looks familiar.

“Blondie” was huge (YUGE!) when I was in college and grad school, and super-visible at the start of the MTV era. The albums “Parallel Lines” (1978) and “Eat to the Beat” (1979) being popular favorites at the time.

The slipcase cover:

The Strange Death of Alex Raymond (Vol 1 pp 62-63)

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“The Strange Death of Alex Raymond (Vol 1 pp 62-63)” (2020)
by Carson Grubaugh (1981- ) and Dave Sim (1956-)
22 x 17 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

The image first appeared on pp 62-63 as a double page spread in the limited edition of 123 copies of SDOAR vol 1 (July 2020, The California Test Market Edition, available through a direct solicitation at the “A Moment of Cerebus” blog).

The image was also used on the last page of the 7-page SDOAR preview that appeared in the Hermitage Awesomes book, also by Sim and Grubaugh, which was a parody volume of an auction catalogue featuring art from SDOAR and its prequel, “You Don’t Know Jack” and made available during the YDKJ kickstarter in July-Aug 2020)

www.kickstarter.com/projects/1349357665/you-dont-know-jack

left center: Rena; Flash Gordon, 1940.09.22
left lower: Sonja; Flash Gordon, 1938.08.25
left upper: Fria; Flash Gordon, 1939.05.21

right center: Azura; Flash Gordon, 1935.04.21
right lower: Azura; Flash Gordon, date unknown
right upper: Fria; Flash Gordon, 1937.07.16

The original idea was to have the character of Jack imagining herself as she might be drawn in all three of the “schools” of photorealism that Sim espouses: Raymond, Foster, and Caniff. Eventually this morphed into an all-Raymond fantasy 2-pager.

From a process point of view, the composition is worked out in photoshop then that image, with or without having turned it into a tight pencil drawing, is transferred as a blue line image to the art board for inking. Carson’s preference is not to use the tight pencils and then preserve more of the open spontaneity of the brush when you have your one-shot at rendering the image.

Kepler’s Elements

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“Kepler’s Elements” (2020)
by Gerhard (1959-)
5 x 16 in, ink on board
Coppola Collection

This is an interpretation of Kepler’s elements, from 1619, as imagined from the fertile and creative hand and mind of Gerhard. I am using Kepler’s drawings in a textbook (they are public domain, after all), and I decided I would commission Ger and give him free reign to come up with a modern interpretation. The guy just winds up and knocks it over the far wall every time. A copy of Kepler’s drawings is included as an additional image.

Johannes Kepler, in the “Harmonices Mundi” (The Harmony of the World; 1619), discusses the harmony and congruence in geometrical forms and physical phenomena. An extrapolation of Platonic philosophy, Kepler created some of the most iconic drawings in the history of chemistry, integrating contemporary ideas about the five basic elements into the properties of the five basic physical forms of the Platonic solids. The pointy tetrahedron represents the sharpness of fire, and so also then the particles of fire are tetrahedral. The easily packed cubic form contains the properties of the earths (solids). The octahedral form is associated with air (gasses), and the highly mobile icosahedron with water (liquids). The 12-sided and spherical dodecahedron is associated with the aether of the heavens, one side (clearly) for each sign of the zodiac with the blazing sun in the center (Kepler is credited as being one of the first prominent astronomers who embraced fully the Copernican, heliocentric model of the universe).

“Ever” sketch

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“Ever” sketch (2020)
by Terry Moore (1954- )
6.25 x 10 in., pencil on paper
Coppola Collection

In 2019-20, Terry Moore wove together the many different pieces of his comics universe into two novels. The 10-part “Five Years” and the one-shot “Ever.” In “Five Years,” themes and characters from Strangers in Paradise, Rachel Rising, Motor Girl, and Echo all collide as the world nations race to create the universe-ending Phi Bomb… all in the name of Cold War deterrence. Meanwhile, the architect of destruction, Lilith, is orchestrating the 5-year countdown to the end of everything. In “Ever,” which is sort of a prequel to everything (including what happened in Eden before Adam and Eve, which was attempt 2.0), the true history of Lilith is uncovered, and provides more background for all of the series.

Ever is the name of the main character, and Terry was kind include to put this sketch inside of the hardcover edition that I bought.