Weird Science Fantasy no 27 cover

Bought an old EC comic, Weird Science Fantasy no 27 published in January 1955. Got it for a song, its only in fair condition but the artwork inside is intact. Not bad for a comic thats over 50 years old anyway!

Amazing cover so it's good subject matter for a bit of practise with the pencil and pen. Who said rock n' roll was dead? Me.

Recognise the helmet and retro style? Wally (yes Mr Wood again!) invented it. Actually someone'll probably mail me now and say "Hey actually it was Ditko/Crandell/Frazetta/Kirby/Feldstein/Davis/etc or a million other guys. Maybe so. But Woody did a pretty good job of it didn't he?
He certainly did. And all before we even had colour tv's. 1955.....gulp.

Heres the original -

Woody

So I had a go today at copying a bit of Wally Woods artwork from an old Mad magazine.
Pencilled it out and then used my trusty fountain pen (a Hero 329 if you're interested, great cheap Chinese fountain pen. Cost under a fiver new including postage from China. Its designed along the lines of the Parker '51 and '61. A classic apparently and its great to draw with its very fine smooth nib. God I'm a geek)

Yeah, anyway good old Wally, one of the very best comic artists there's ever been in my opinion. His work on "The Outer Space Spirit" with Eisner is just breathtaking, he defined that whole '50s sci fi look and you can see his influence everywhere.

He had some tough times before the end poor devil, scratching a living in a cold damp room trying to make a buck before he took his own life with a pistol to the temple. His health had deteriorated so badly he was blind in one eye, virtually paralysed on one whole side of his body and most of his internal organs packing up. But he carried on working. Unbelievable.

Inky

Quick sketch and then inked using a fountain pen, nice tidy way of doing things actually. Looking at the scan I realise his heads a bit wonky. Newspapers are great for digging out subject matter for a quick scribble! Its supposed to be Rupert Murdoch by the way!

Tom Waits 'n' stuff

The top 4 scratchings are supposed to be Tom Waits, I kinda think the bottom left one might be the closest to looking like him, but maybe its just because I'm squinting.

Had a go at a couple of older faces, the lower left face is an old African tribesman photo I found on the net but I haven't done him any justice.

The one on the right is an old Oriental, this old guy had a face like leather and a cute little kid hanging off his back.

"Knife to the eye!"

I've just treated myself to five Goon trade paperbacks by Eric Powell and I've got to say he is in my opinion one of the very best comic artists (and writers!) in many years. His style is reminiscent of Will Eisner, Wally Wood and even Jack Davis. They're some of my favourite artists so I'm in heaven having something new to read and look at.

Ive got to thank my mate Neal Sutton for putting me onto him (well, for actually buying me one of his comics so cheers Neal!)

So I spent some time copying a few faces from "The Goon" comic (25 cent edition, I didnt want to bend the books too much) just for fun and just because its such a pleasure studying his work. I tried using a brush for some of it but I'm still pretty ropey at that, probably the shakey hand doesnt help from all the caffeine.

I can really recommend his work to anyone who appreciates a classic comic style with some of the best most unpretentious and fun writing I've read in a comic book for years.
Keep an eye out for his "Chinatown" book coming soon.
"Knife to the eye!"