Golden Age Comic Book Stories

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Frank Frazetta

The Midwood Illustrations ~ 1963-64

Perfumed by Jason Hytes ~ The Dangerous Age by Joan Ellis

The Wild Week by Jason Hytes

19 comments:

cbagallery said...: Gorgeous Stuff. But what exactly is The Midwood Illustrations ? I can't imagine they were published as interior story illustrations for those "sleaze" paperbacks from Midwood books. Or were they? Is there a book where all these illustrations can be found?; 3:30 AM
Al said...: Simply amazing. Thanks for sharing!; 5:15 PM
diana green said...: Midwood was indeed the publisher of these, and they have been reprinted (at least a few of them) in a thin 90s volume from Fantagraphics titled Baby, You're Really Something.; 5:32 PM
cbagallery said...: Wow, interesting! I actually have a few Midwood books but I own them because I like the cover art and therefore never bothered to flip through them. Any idea where the blogger sourced all his posted images from?; 10:14 PM
Joe Jusko said...: I thought I had all of these but there are 3 here that I've never seen! THANKS!; 2:52 PM
cbagallery said...: Hey Joe,

Regarding the ones that you have, can you tell me in what form you own them? Do you have the individual Midwood books?; 7:05 PM
Mr. Door Tree said...: I scanned most of these illustrations from the Captain George reprints from the early 1970s. I believe one of the illos doesn't belong in the group but I couldn't figure out which one...any one know...Doc Dave?; 9:47 PM
cbagallery said...: Hi Mr. Door Tree,

Great blog by the way! I really enjoy getting your posts through my Google rss feed every day.

Can you please elaborate on what the "Captain George reprints from the early 1970s" are and who published them? Thanks!; 10:25 PM
Joe Jusko said...: I've got a weird possibly bootleg fanzine The Movies Vol.1 No.1 that sold for 25 cents. There's no date on it but there's a Capt. George Whizzbang cover repro in it. Published by Memory Lane Productions, a Whizzbang Publication. It has most of the images you've posted in it except for the three new ones I mentioned earlier.; 10:27 PM
Mr. Door Tree said...: Joe,

I thought I have, or have at least seen, every fanzine from the 1950's through the 80's but I have never heard of The Movies zine that you mention and it's not noted in any of the bibliography's I have on Frazetta's art...though I don't have the recently published bibliography by James Bond.

For those of you that don't know George Henderson was a collector/publisher up in Toronto Canada and began publishing fanzines in 1968, the two main titles being Captain George's Comic World (about 40 issues) and Captain George's Whizzbang (at least two dozen issues)! What was most enjoyable about these zines was you never knew what you would see...Captain Marvel to Frazetta, Finlay, Bok, Raymond, Segar, the Cliffhangers and on and on...I still have my original complete runs! He didn't give a hoot about copyrights and even reprinted DC and Marvel material...I think I may have been subliminaly influenced by Captain George for this site...long live Captain George!; 1:58 AM
cbagallery said...: Unfortunately I can't even find a reference to the magazine you mention Joe. Mr. Door Tree, can you please post the name ofthe magazines and issues that contain these images you posted? I'd like to track down a copy if most of the images are published in a single issue or two.; 2:05 AM
Mr. Door Tree said...: cbagallery,

The issue you want to be looking for is Captain George's Comic World #15 (not dated but early 1970's), it contains 22 of the illos and 7 are printed as double page spreads that measure 11" x 17"! There is also an advertisement with a full page repro of the cover to THE MOVIES zine that Joe had brought up...a beautiful cover drawing of John Barrymore but not a mention in the ad that it's filled with Frazetta art! I had totally forgot this ad!

Of course the easiest way to find these illos is the Fantagraphics reprint titled Baby You're Really Something!...but it looks like they used the Captain George zine for most of their repros!; 3:37 AM
cbagallery said...: Thanks so much Mr. Door Tree! I'm gonna try to hunt a copy down. I actually used to own a copy of the Eros comic 'Baby You're Really Something!', as I special ordered it from my comic shop when I read the solicitation for it back in , 1991 or so? Unfortunately, when I sold my comic collection back in 1995, it went with everything else. Honestly though, although I remember the cover quite vividly, I can't for the life of me remember a single thing from the interior. That's why apart from the image used for the comic, it feels like your blog post is the first time I've seen these images! Anyway, I'm glad you mentioned details of the inside of the magazine because I'd rather have the original "compilation", especially since 7 of them are double page splashes and measure the same size as original comic art! Thanks again.; 4:12 AM
Joe Jusko said...: The Barrymore mag is the one! ALL Frazetta illos! I've had it for going on 30-35 years, I think.; 5:47 AM
Rich Dannys said...: Captain George was a real institution here, in Toronto. He used to have a Frazetta 'JOHNNY COMET' daily hanging in his foyer, which I used to gawk at..
He had an interesting curio shop, but not much interest in running a retail business. If you had the patience to begin digging thru the piles of Pulp, you could often unearth some real gems!
Worth getting, is a 'Capt. George Presents #38 & 39'.. A double-sized issue of old Frazetta comic-book work, under a cover featuring the Midwood illustration of the smoking man, admiring the smoking girl..; 2:27 PM
Joe Jusko said...: It seems the contents of The Movies is the same as Comic World #15. Despite the title it contains nothing but the Frazetta illos (many dbl pages) and an ad for Whizzbang #4, if that helps date the publication.; 3:25 PM
Chuck Wells said...: Thanks, Tree! This is one of the best posts you've done lately (and that is saying something).

These are incredible illustrations, God could that man draw!; 8:38 PM
magscanner said...: I visited Captain George's shop in 1970 when I was in Toronto for an early multi media convention (SF, pulps, comics, and movies) .... was it Toronto Fan Faire? Anyway, at the time he would sell a package of all the back issues for a nominal sum, and of course I bought them. It damn well opened my eyes to old comic strips and a lot of things I had never thought about before. While I was there someone came it to sell some absolutely perfect 20's movie fan magazines. Years later, thinking about the covers on those magazines (we all got to see them) was one of the things that got me to start a magazine cover art site [magazineart.org].

And kudos to Mr. Tree for one of the best graphics sites on the net.

Mike; 10:39 PM
Charles Gramlich said...: Lovely stuff. Great emotion in all of Frazetta's work.; 3:23 PM

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