Marvel Art of David Finch (2024)
By David Finch (1971-)
11×17 in., graphite on art board
Coppola Collection

Premium reward offered with the book, Marvel Art of David Finch. The artist at work.

Lab Rats 7 p 8 (December 2002)
John Byrne (1950-) writer/artist
11 x 17 in., ink over graphite on art board
Coppola Collection

Lab Rats is an eight issue DC Comics series by John Byrne following a group of homeless and runaway children who have been taken to “The Campus” where they are used in experiments by Robert Quinlan. When Quinlan isn’t strapping them into one deadly contraption or another he’s sending them to clean up and investigate the dangerous results of his other experiments. The Lab Rats start dying on page one of issue one.

Never heard of it? You are not alone. In 2012, Byrne wrote “The book that was killed by the internet. Trashed, savaged, and shredded before the first issue had even come out. Retailers refusing to order it even for customers standing there with money in their hands. May have been the worst book I have ever done…

I have been, and always shall be, a huge fan of how Byrne draws and composes a page. The sense of space and scale is always there, as is the delightful reminder that you are always reading a comic book.

1950 Oct Tom Mix in Master Comics 118 (p 47)
By Carl Pfeufer (1910-1980) and John Jordan (dates unknown)
13 x 18 in, ink over graphite on art board
Coppola Collection

One page from the 9-page Tom Mix adventure titled “The Twin Oaks Mystery” that appeared in the October 1950 issue (#118) of Master Comics.

The noteworthy character here is artist Carl Pfeufer. Pfeufer’s first confirmed Sub-Mariner art, for Marvel Comics’ 1940s forerunner, Timely Comics, was the 12-page story “Fingers of Death” in Marvel Mystery Comics #32 (June 1942), though Pfeufer may have inked over character-creator Bill Everett’s pencil art, or even supplied some penciling himself, as early as the Sub-Mariner story in The Human Torch #6 (Winter 1941). Working initially through the studio Funnies, Inc., one of the comic-book “packagers” of the time that supplied features and complete comic books to publishers testing the waters of the new medium, Pfeufer drew the aquatic antihero in Marvel Mystery Comics, Sub-Mariner Comics (beginning with #6, Summer 1942), All Winners Comics, All Select Comics, and at least one issue of Captain America Comics.

As comics historian and one-time Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas described, “When Bill Everett joined the army in 1942, his major successor as Sub-Mariner artist was Carl Pfeufer. Pfeufer soon evolved Namor’s musculature and vaguely triangular head to almost grotesque proportions, but basically filled Bill’s shoes admirably.”

When work dissipated at Timely in 1946, Pfeufer began drawing for Fawcett Comics, illustrating such features as “Mr. Scarlet” and “Commando Yank” in Wow Comics. Then, with inker John Jordan, Pfeufer began a four-and-a-half-year stint penciling the licensed Western character Tom Mix in Master Comics #97-122 and 124–133, the final issue (Nov. 1948 – April 1953), as well as very occasionally in other Fawcett titles. Comics historian R. C. Harvey opined of Pfeufer’s “Tom Mix” art, “For continuous, dynamic action sequences, Pfeufer simply cannot be surpassed.”

1946.05.22 “Bringing Up Father”
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.

In the news. The war was over, but not forgotten. On May 22, 1946, Karl Hermann Frank, 48, Nazi SS leader who oversaw the massacres at Lidice and Lezaky, was hanged in Prague.

1975 Kirby Thing (Jack Kirby)
By Jack Kirby (1917-1994)
5.5 x 8.5 in, pencil/marker
Coppola Collection

The inside back cover of the program book from Phil Seuling’s 7^th annual comic art convention (July 3-7, 1975) was set aside for autograph collecting.

This page is about as self-explanatory as it gets. Kirby was a guest at the convention, and the book featured a Silver Surfer cover drawing and a Kirby interview.

Poison Ivy – The Mighty Mite in “Feature Comics #47” (Aug 1941) p 11
by Gilbert Theodore (Gill) Fox (1915-2004)
13 x 18 in, ink on board
Coppola Collection

Second page from the 2-page story “The 100-Mile Water Race,” written, penciled and inked by Gill Fox.

Fox began his career in animation at Max Fleischer’s studio, but left due to labor unrest. He entered the comic book industry, working for a number of studios and companies, including DC Comics. During 1940-43, he was an editor and a cover artist for Quality Comics, with his work gracing the covers of such titles as Torchy and Plastic Man. In 1941, he wrote several weeks of continuity for the Spirit daily newspaper strip.

This page is from August 1941, which is a noteworthy time in Fox’s comic book history. A few months later, in November, a comic written by Gill Fox, describing a German attack on Pearl Harbor, was published one month before the real-life Japanese attack on that U.S. naval base.

He left his editorial position at Quality in 1943 to serve in World War II, where he worked for Stars and Stripes. Once discharged from military service, Fox freelanced for Quality Comics until the early 1950s.

Quality published “Feature Comics” for 144 issues (1937-1950), featuring Doll Man as its lead superhero. Fox’s Poison Ivy – The Mighty Mite, appeared through issue 132, and was also a daily strip. In an interview with Jim Amash (Alter Ego 3(12)):

FOX: Crandall, of course, was one of our top artists, but he kept to himself as far as I could see. His work was just terrific, and he helped make Blackhawk one of our best books.

JA: When did Quality move back to New York?

FOX: I was drafted while in Stamford and helped set the New York office up before I left. I commuted from Stamford. I started doing a two-page filler called “Poison Ivy.” It began to get hot. I remember Henry Martin [an associate of Busy Arnold] leaning on a doorjamb and saying to me, “Can you do some dailies so we can syndicate it?” It was a dream! But then I was classified 1-A for military service and had to give it up. We’d even talked about it being a comic book. The breaks in this business are very strange.

Because comics weren’t considered an “essential” job, like some others were, I knew I was going to go when a national “Work or Fight” order was announced. I didn’t want to go. I quit being editor in the middle of 1943 and started working on farms in Connecticut. I did that for about six months and got in great shape. But it didn’t make any difference. I went into the Army anyway.

Strangers in Paradise Collective Volume 3 Cover (2023)
by Terry Moore (1954- )
11 x 17 in., ink on board

This images cropped to give the cover from Volume 3 of the new (2023) 4-volume collection of the entire SIP saga.

Strangers in Paradise III #11 p 12 (Dec 1997)
by Terry Moore (1954- )
11 x 17 in., ink on board

Sal puts pressure on Darcy to get the Senate off his back. She tells him that subtle plans are in motion, when is remains unhappy Darcy smashes the phone into one of her gardener’s faces.  David has packed his bag and walking out when Darcy pulls a gun on him and only misses his head when he ducks. She then tries to kiss him and when he rejects her violently the gun goes off again, she indicates that his past is not so innocent either and he has something dark in his past too.   As David leaves he discovers he was shot in the forearm and collapses. Fran and Walsh pull up and take him to the hospital where he fills them in on Katchoo’s location.

Strangers in Paradise III #23 p 11 (Mar 1999)
by Terry Moore (1954- )
11 x 17 in., ink on board

Katchoo teaches Casey a thing or two about fooling around with other men while David receives a phone call that will change his life forever. Francine returns home to find her affairs are definitely not in order!

Strangers in Paradise III #80 p 5 (Feb 2006)
by Terry Moore (1954- )
11 x 17 in., ink on board

Casey begs David to marry her and give her a child, but Katchoo wants to marry David as well. Which one will he choose?