IllustrationMagazines

Illustrators #45 (magazine review).

A casual page flick, and you would think that there were fewer artists. Actually, this edition of ‘Illustrators’ still features a variety of artists and a few new features, which have significantly altered the issue’s balance.

art: Glenn Fabry All contents copyright The Book Palace Ltd
(c) The Book Palace 2024

Glenn Fabry (1961–) is known principally for his work on ‘Slaine’ for ‘2000AD’ and then with John Constantine for DC Comics/Vertigo, amongst others shown here. His colour palate varies a lot depending on the work involved, and so does his subject matter, from violent to comedy and, sometimes, a mix of them both.

art: Glen Orbik All contents copyright The Book Palace Ltd
(c) The Book Palace 2024

A lot of the artists covered have often died of old age. Alas Glen Orbik (1963–2015) died young from cancer. His medium of choice was oils, and he created covers for pulp crime novels, occasionally receiving requests from comic book companies for period pieces. He also taught his craft. Looking at his work here, Orbik’s palate has a darker tone, but that does tend to match his period work. In many ways, the color choices in the books from the 1940s to 1950s were influenced by the poorer print quality and the cheap cardboard that absorbed the color. They weren’t called ‘pulps’ for no reason at all. The artists adopted this. Matching it, there’s a need to just darken the colours, although I think I might have chosen a different canvas. However, his work here brought everything together and taught me valuable lessons.

art: Howard Christy All contents copyright The Book Palace Ltd
(c) The Book Palace 2024

Despite receiving training in painting, Howard Chandler Christy (1873–1952) excelled in both painting and using charcoal. He worked across the spectrum, from magazines to portraiture and even nudes, although his “Christy girls’ were actually clothed originally. His art was always more functional than mere posing.

The portrayal of German Doctor Heinrich Hoffmann (1809-1894), who crafted illustrated stories for his children and later sold them as books, is somewhat peculiar. I should clarify that these are not related to ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’, but rather serve as cautionary tales aimed at preventing children from getting into trouble. There is also a tradition of boys getting into trouble in pairs. Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) created the first pair, Max and Moritz, while Rudolph Dirks (1877-1698) later created the Katzenjammer Kids and ‘The Captain And The Kids’ after the Hearst organisation claimed their copyright.

The artwork was created by James Bama on the left, and Walter M. Baumhofer on the right. All contents copyright The Book Palace Ltd
(c) The Book Palace 2024

Finally, there’s a look at the various artists who have painted Doc Savage. He didn’t always have his widow’s peak, but he was never able to purchase shirts that wouldn’t rip during his adventures. Oddly, of all the art here, Boris Vallejo’s tended to come over more comicbook-like than the others, although, to be fair, I’m judging him by his other work as others here did do something similar.

art: Bob Larkin. All contents copyright The Book Palace Ltd
(c) The Book Palace 2024

There’s enough variety for everyone here. I do think editor Diego Cordobo is intending to shake things up from time to time as well as taking advantage of available collections. I am aware that it stimulates my own creativity, which is a positive development.

GF Willmetts

October 2024

(pub: The Book Palace, 2021.) 98 page illustrated squarebound magazine. Price: £22.00 (UK), $27.99 (US) via Bud Plant. ISBN: 978-1-913548-61-2. ISSN: 2052-6520)

Check out these websites: www.bookpalace.com and www.illustratorsquarterly.com

UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

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