“X-Men 49” (2020)

“X-Men 49” (2020)
by Carson Grubaugh (1981- )
7 x 10 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

You Don’t Know Jack: Two-Fisted Comic-Store Manager is a 48-page comic-book collaboration between legendary Cerebus creator Dave Sim, real-life (now, former) comic-store manager Jack VanDyke, and artist Carson Grubaugh.

During the kickstarter for “You Don’t Know… Jack” (July-August, 2020), Carson, a terrific master of brushwork, offered original 7 x 10 inch straight-to-ink Google-Image Grab-Bag sketches. Here is how that works. You are asked to provide a word or phrase (and obviously you can game this a bit). Carson then searches this word or phrase using Google Images. The first photographic image listed by Google Images will be the source material for the straight-to-ink sketch.

Carson has got a great eye. In fact, it freaks me out. He can use a brush (or pen) on paper with NO underlying outline, lay down lines or brushstrokes all over the page, and in about 20-30 minutes he produces a sketch. And all without the training wheels! He records it live. There are videos at his Instagram site and at the original kickstarter site.

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

“Tibetan Monks Debate” (2020)

“Tibetan Monks Debate” (2020)
by Carson Grubaugh (1981- )
7 x 10 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

You Don’t Know Jack: Two-Fisted Comic-Store Manager is a 48-page comic-book collaboration between legendary Cerebus creator Dave Sim, real-life (now, former) comic-store manager Jack VanDyke, and artist Carson Grubaugh.

During the kickstarter for “You Don’t Know… Jack” (July-August, 2020), Carson, a terrific master of brushwork, offered original 7 x 10 inch straight-to-ink Google-Image Grab-Bag sketches. Here is how that works. You are asked to provide a word or phrase (and obviously you can game this a bit). Carson then searches this word or phrase using Google Images. The first photographic image listed by Google Images will be the source material for the straight-to-ink sketch.

Carson has got a great eye. In fact, it freaks me out. He can use a brush (or pen) on paper with NO underlying outline, lay down lines or brushstrokes all over the page, and in about 20-30 minutes he produces a sketch. And all without the training wheels! He records it live. There are videos at his Instagram site and at the original kickstarter site.

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

“Avengers Annual 2” (2020)

“Avengers Annual 2” (2020)
by Carson Grubaugh (1981- )
7 x 10 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

You Don’t Know Jack: Two-Fisted Comic-Store Manager is a 48-page comic-book collaboration between legendary Cerebus creator Dave Sim, real-life (now, former) comic-store manager Jack VanDyke, and artist Carson Grubaugh.

During the kickstarter for “You Don’t Know… Jack” (July-August, 2020), Carson, a terrific master of brushwork, offered original 7 x 10 inch straight-to-ink Google-Image Grab-Bag sketches. Here is how that works. You are asked to provide a word or phrase (and obviously you can game this a bit). Carson then searches this word or phrase using Google Images. The first photographic image listed by Google Images will be the source material for the straight-to-ink sketch.

Carson has got a great eye. In fact, it freaks me out. He can use a brush (or pen) on paper with NO underlying outline, lay down lines or brushstrokes all over the page, and in about 20-30 minutes he produces a sketch. And all without the training wheels! He records it live. There are videos at his Instagram site and at the original kickstarter site.

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

Reproducing these line-art covers from little images was, well, let’s here from Carson: “With this one, for “Avengers Annual 2 cover,” Brian found the limit of my ability to track complex visual relationships and pushed right pastit. I hope he enjoys the piece, if not for the image itself, at least as a trophy of my defeat. Ha-ha.  Thank goodness it wasn’t a George Perez cluster-%@#! cover.”

1957.05.17 Ted Mack (signed) in its 22nd Year

“1957.05.17 Ted Mack (signed) in its 22nd Year”
by Eddie Germano (1924 – )
11 x 14, ink and wash on board
Coppola Collection

A native Bostonian, Germano became a full-time cartoonist in 1948, at age 24, after serving in WWII. Among other positions, he worked as the editorial and sports cartoonist for the Brockton Enterprise from 1963-1990.

Germano handled the TV beat for a few years. He (or his editor) was able to get hand-written notes from the featured subjects to integrate into the 3-column Sunday illustrations.

In this one, from 1957, features Ted Mack, one of the ultimate predecessors of every reality show featuring America’s Greatest Talents/Idols/Whatever of one kind of another. The Ted Mack “Original Amateur Hour,” a staple on the radio from 1934-45 as the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, moved to TV in 1948 (the same year that Ed Sullivan started) and ran until 1970. Like the Sullivan show, the demographic was skewing too old for the networks.

“The Greatest Show on Earth” by Mike Angelo (August 30, 1940)

1940.08.30 “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Mike Angelo (August 30, 1940)
by Emidio (Mike) Angelo (1903-1990)
18 x 18 in., ink on art board
Coppola Collection

Emidio Angelo was born in Philadelphia, a year after his mother and father, a baker, arrived from Italy. He studied art from 1924 to 1928 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Angelo joined The Philadelphia Inquirer as a political cartoonist in 1937 and worked there until 1954. He also drew cartoons for the Saturday Evening Post, Life and Esquire.

Henry Agard Wallace served as Secretary of Agriculture under FDR from 1933 to 1940. He strongly supported Roosevelt’s New Deal. Overcoming strong opposition from conservative leaders in the Democratic Party, Wallace was nominated for vice president at the 1940 Democratic National Convention. The Roosevelt-Wallace ticket won the 1940 presidential election, and Wallace continued to play an important role in the Roosevelt administration before and during World War II.

As Roosevelt refused to commit to either retiring or seeking reelection during his second term, supporters of Wallace and other leading Democrats laid the groundwork for a presidential campaign in the 1940 election. After the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1939, Wallace publicly endorsed a third term for Roosevelt. Though Roosevelt never declared his candidacy, the 1940 Democratic National Convention nominated him for president. Shortly after being nominated, Roosevelt informed his supporters that he favored Wallace for vice president. Wallace had a strong base of support among farmers. But many conservative Democratic Party leaders disliked Wallace because of his former affiliation with the Republican Party.

The Roosevelt campaign settled on a strategy of keeping Roosevelt largely out of the fray of the election, leaving most of the campaigning to Wallace and other surrogates.

After the July convention, Wallace made foreign affairs the main focus of his campaigning.  On August 29, 1940, he gave his own acceptance speech to a crowd of 7000 at the Des Moines Coliseum and, by radio, to the nation. He used Hitler’s name so often that the Chicago Times asked “Who is FDR running against, Hitler?” But he had used FDR’s name more, saying that “the replacement of Roosevelt … would cause [Adolf] Hitler to rejoice.”