Cerebus 20 Cover re-creation (Jan 2024)
by Dave Sim (1956- )
11 x 17 in., ink on board
A 2024 re-creation of one of the great early covers – the first “Mind Games” issue of Cerebus. I own the original color prelim for the actual cover.
Cerebus 20 Cover re-creation (Jan 2024)
by Dave Sim (1956- )
11 x 17 in., ink on board
A 2024 re-creation of one of the great early covers – the first “Mind Games” issue of Cerebus. I own the original color prelim for the actual cover.
“Traffic Cop’s Headaches” (Among Us Mortals, 11/09/1952)
by W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962)
18.5 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962) was known for his masterful black and white Sunday page, “Among Us Mortals,” sometimes referred to as the Hill Page.
From this November 9, 1952 edition, titled “Traffic Cop’s Headaches” some quotes:
“Pathetic stuff. She’s working on Officer Duffy with all the old sob technique. If she’d seen the hydrant she wouldn’t have dreamed of parking there. Feels just awful about it, etc., etc.”
“This boy thinks he knows all the answers. When stopped for speeding, he’s ready to peel off a couple of bills, but it’s no go. He gets a ticket.”
1945.02.24 “Don’t Travel”
by Ralph Lee (1906-1947)
14 x 22 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Ralph Lee was an editorial cartoonist for the Portland Oregonian. He died suddenly, at 41, in January 1947. His cousin, Art Bimrose, was the editorial cartoonist for the Oregonian for more than three decades. In 1937, the Oregonian hired him part-time to work on printing plates. Following Lee’s death, Bimrose was hired as the Sunday editorial cartoonist.
The bombing of Dresden was a British/American aerial bombing attack on the capital of the German state of Saxony. In four raids, between February 13-15, 1945, the Allies dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. Three more US air raids followed, two occurring on March 2, aimed at the city’s railway marshalling yard, and a smaller raid on April 17 aimed at industrial areas.
Immediate German propaganda claims following the attacks, and postwar discussions of whether the attacks were justified, have led to the bombing becoming a moral cause celebre. To this day there are those, mostly in the German far-right, who refer to the bombing as a mass murder, calling it “Dresden’s Holocaust of bombs.”
February 23, 1945, by the way, is the date on which the famous picture of the flag raising at Iwo Jima took place.
1942.02.28 “Sea Monster”
by Ralph Lee (1906-1947)
15 x 22 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Ralph Lee was an editorial cartoonist for the Portland Oregonian. He died suddenly, at 41, in January 1947. His cousin, Art Bimrose, was the editorial cartoonist for the Oregonian for more than three decades. In 1937, the Oregonian hired him part-time to work on printing plates. Following Lee’s death, Bimrose was hired as the Sunday editorial cartoonist.
When the armistice between France and Germany was put into force on June 25, 1940, the fate of the powerful French Navy—the fourth largest in the world—was of critical importance to the British.
Churchill dreaded the idea of the French Fleet falling into enemy hands while Britain stood alone against the Axis powers. The June 1940 armistice between Germany and France stipulated that the French Fleet would not be used by Germany or Italy but would be immobilized under their control. The Vichy French, though no friend of the British, also asserted that under no circumstances were their ships to be made available to the Germans.
“But who in his senses would trust the word of Hitler after his shameful record and the facts of the hour?” said Churchill.
Almost immediately, the British set out to neutralize or destroy the French Fleet.
As the war escalated in early 1942, with the US entry into the European War inevitable, the Germans began to move against the armistice. Britain and the Vichy forces stepped up their own actions, and the last of the remaining French Fleet was scuttled at Toulon in November 1942.
“The Legit Actress” (Among Us Mortals, 10/19/1952)
by W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962)
18.5 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962) was known for his masterful black and white Sunday page, “Among Us Mortals,” sometimes referred to as the Hill Page.
From this October 19, 1952 edition, titled “The Legit Actress” some quotes:
“Through the ages with the legit actress. At left, we have the adventuress in “Queen of the White Slaves” in the early 1900s. Above is the Boopa Doop saucy soubrette of the 1920s, while right is the small town stock favorite circa 1915, who emoted real teats, so the matinee girls said.”
“Ingenue. She’s guest tonight on one of those TV quiz shows. The emcee has told the panel that the subject is mineral and vegetable, and Irene has her hand up to ask ‘Is it a living American man?’”
1939.03.18 “First Things First”
by Nathan Leo “Nate” Collier (1883-1961)
9 x 12 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
An Illinois native, Collier studied at the Acme School of Drawing and at the Lockwood Art School. He did cartoons for the Chicago Journal, as well as the feature ‘Our Own Movies’ (1920), the decade in which he was most active.
The isolationists were a diverse group, including progressives and conservatives, business owners and peace activists, but because they faced no consistent, organized opposition from internationalists, their ideology triumphed time and again.
Roosevelt appeared to accept the strength of the isolationist elements in Congress until 1937. In that year, as the situation in Europe continued to grow worse and the Second Sino-Japanese War began in Asia, the President gave a speech in which he likened international aggression to a disease that other nations must work to “quarantine.” At that time, however, Americans were still not prepared to risk their lives and livelihoods for peace abroad.
As we know, things only got worse. The year 1938 started with the annexation of Austria and ends with Kristallnacht. By March 1939, Czechoslovakia was split up and taken.
“War Clouds Over Europe… Acting with characteristic vigor and with the same total disregard for the rights of other countries or existing pacts, agreements, Adolph Hitler, on behalf of the German Nation, staged another military coup last week-end, as a result of which he completed the annexation of Czechoslovakia and further extended his claims and ambitions in the Ukraine.”
“As a result of this action, which is resented by practically every independent statesman in Europe, Hitler has once more brought the world to the brink of a war of first-class magnitude, and six European nations have been partially mobilized to fight the issue. The United States of America has placed a virtual ban on German goods…”
From The Worker, Australia’s Pioneer Co-operative Labor Journal (March 21, 1939)
“The Gay Fifties” (Among Us Mortals, 9/7/1952)
by W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962)
18.5 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962) was known for his masterful black and white Sunday page, “Among Us Mortals,” sometimes referred to as the Hill Page.
From this September 7, 1952 edition, titled “The Gay Fifties” some quotes:
“In the fifties, a great portion of the oldsters’ days will be spent worrying over the younger generation. Can’t imagine what young people are coming to. No manners, no nothing!”
… so true: the more things change!
“As the years creep on, this boy likes the girls younger. Teen age preferably. (He’s the man who tells you “a man is as young as he feels.”)”
… OK, then… creepy is the perfect word for this one.
“This fiftyish bachelor has always had the reputation of being a regular devil with the women. But the middle-age spread becoming evident, the old cave-man tactics won’t be so overpowering. (At the moment, he’s practicing holding in the embonpoint at waistline.)”
… and among the things I like about these is his vocabulary. I have never knowingly encountered “embonpoint” before.
1944.06.09 “Scuttle Her!”
by C A Maggi
12 x 14 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
I have no information about this artist.
The United States Navy grew rapidly during World War II, playing a central role in the war against Japan. It also assisted the British Royal Navy in the naval war against Germany and Italy. The largest amphibious invasion of all time was the D-Day invasion of France in June 1944.
By the end of D-Day, 156,000 Allied soldiers had come ashore on the Normandy beaches with losses of 2,500 men. By the end of the day, the Allies had established a tenuous beachhead that would lead to an offensive that pinned Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich between two pincers–the Western Allies and the already advancing Soviets–accelerating the end of World War II.
A million Allied troops, under the overall command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, moved onto five Normandy beachheads in three weeks.
Seeing the US navy coming over the horizon, Hitler begins to get the hint. As a routine practice, you scuttle your materiel rather than have it fall into the hands of the enemy, who can turn around and use it against you. Hitler would eventually, indeed, take down Germany with him.
1923.09.10 “She’s Too Ambitious for Us.”
by Albert Turner Reid (1873-1958)
11 x 14.5 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection
Albert Reid sold his first political cartoon to the Topeka Mail and Breeze in 1896. After this first cartoon, his work began to appear regularly in the Kansas City Journal, Kansas City Star, Chicago Record, the New York Herald, and the Saturday Evening Post.
Reid was a successful businessman, a staunch supporter of the American farmer, a composer, a painter of murals and a teacher of art. The art school which he started with George Stone in Topeka was the beginning of Washburn’s Art Department. If he had been active in larger political centers, he probably would have received even more recognition. A large collection of his work is in the collections of the Kansas Historical Society.
After WW1, Isolationism was the name of the game for US foreign policy. President Harding’s victory speech (November 1920), the first to be broadcast on the radio, called for “a return to normalcy” and declared the issue of America’s involvement in the League of Nations “deceased.” The Covenant forming the League of Nations was included in the Treaty of Versailles and came into force on January 10, 1920.
The Corfu incident was a 1923 diplomatic and military crisis between Greece and Italy. It was triggered when an Italian general heading a commission to resolve a border dispute between Albania and Greece was murdered in Greek territory along with members of his staff. In response, Benito Mussolini issued a severe ultimatum to Greece and when it was not accepted in whole, dispatched forces to bombard and occupy Corfu.
Mussolini, who created the fascist party in 1919 and had become Prime Minister in 1922, defied the League of Nations and stated Italy would leave if it arbitrated in the crisis, and the Conference of Ambassadors instead eventually tendered an agreement favoring Italy. This was an early demonstration of the League’s weakness when dealing with larger powers. Mussolini’s reputation in Italy was enhanced.
The US… walks on by.
“Sunday Night Benefit” (Among Us Mortals, 4/4/1954)
by W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962)
18.5 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962) was known for his masterful black and white Sunday page, “Among Us Mortals,” sometimes referred to as the Hill Page.
From this April 4, 1954 edition, titled “Sunday Night Benefit” some quotes:
“Benefit chairman and committee member, making necessary plans to take over a Sunday night performance of a hit show, and for a wonderful cause. They are expanding the Lillydale Day Nursery project to include a game room (ping pong, etc.), where expectant fathers can come evenings, thereby keeping them off the streets and out of mischief, while their wives are confined.”
“A last year’s debutante collecting for the fund between the acts. Prince Charming hasn’t shown up yet, and she’s going into settlement work.”