roger's answers

okay...

so...
hope everybody had a nice weekend!
i've been working a lot and have tried to break that up with cleaning/straightening/bombing my office--it is an embarrassing mess--and have been coming across some really cool things that have been literally buried in boxes or under things that, now that i have a working, cooperative scanner, i thought i'd share with ya...

back in the early eighties, when everything in comics seemed to be new and fresh and the sky was the limit, when there was an incredible surge of both financial and creative growth, there was a wonderful little period where it seemed that every company was also doing great business with portfolios. i still have all of these treasures that i picked up back then, illustrations of many of my favorite characters by many of the top artists in the field at the time. here's a quick list of some of my favorites in no apparent order--

batman by marshall rogers
dr. strange by michael golden
ka-zar by brent anderson
spider-man and the x-men by fastner and larson
cerebus: the six deadly sins of cerebus by dave sim
the animated cerebus by dave sim
metamorphosis odyssey by jim starlin
frankenstein by bernie wrightson
marvel team-up vol.s 1 and 2 by various (simonson, byrne, perez, buscema, etc.)
the watchmen by dave gibbons
the x-men (french) by john byrne

all of them great, all of them gorgeous!

the fastner and larson x-men and spidey ones were really the first for many of us, i'm sure. the x-men comic by claremnot and byrne had been a juggernaut in the biz and was still climbing! everyone was picking up anything x-men!

the guy behind a lot of these early portfolios and "art of" books was sal quartuccio and he put out some pretty nice stuff, but the one that i went crazy for, the first time i saw it, was a new black and white portfolio by comics legend, neal adams! on the x-men! again! the ad came along with the fastner-larson portfolio and included an early order form for the 'folio which would be available in spring of '82!

i ordered two.

never happened.

i received one follow up notice sometime in the late summer of '82 saying it was coming and thanks for your patience.

and that was it. i wrote to them twice asking for an update and then asking for my money back, but i never heard from them again. or anything about the portfolio.

below is the only evidence i have of it, the only copy, i th8ink, of the only plate they ever had. i dunno.

i'd still love to see that portfolio though...



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and yes, they were
a bit tough, but
here are the answers
to roger's

"FIVE FOR FRIDAY"

1) What is the name of the beauty parlor Carrie Fisher's character worked at in the movie The Blues Brothers?

Curl Up & Dye.

2) The three bands that spun out of the English Beat are: General Public (their big hit was "Tenderness"), Fine Young Cannibals ("She Drives Me Crazy"), and International Beat.

3) The Stan Sakai strip is "Nilson Groundthumper & Hermy."

4) The British cartoonist is a wonderful gent named Hunt Emerson. He also does a strip called "Phenomenomix" in the magazine "Fortean Times," which deals with strange happenings, cryptozoology, and stuff like that.
(Which sounds like a mag you'd enjoy if you've never heard of it.) You can see his work at www.Largecow.com.

5) The Goons are Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe. Michael Bentine was a founding member of the group, but left before they became popular. Their radio show, The Goon Show, and specifically Milligan, have been sited by the members of Monty Python as being highly influential on the development of their humor. If you're a Python fan, you should definitely
check them out. The site www.thegoonshow.net has a lot of great info on them, including some free audio downloads.

have a great day!
smell ya later!
todd