Bad Teeth Books 5 - Draw Some More

Glenn over at Bad Teeth Comics now has the esteemed distinction of being the first person to contact me about submitting an independent art book to the Rowan Morrison Art Books Blog and then actually following-up and sending me the book. This feat is made all the more impressive as it was originated halfway around the Earth from the marsupial producing country/continent of Australia. While I couldn't guarantee that I would like what was being sent to me, I have total support for anybody putting there work out there on their own. Like I've said, "Bad art is better than no art". And, I have even more respect for anybody willing to flow me some free goods.

Luckily, Draw Some More, the 5th book from Bad Teeth, is neither "bad art" or "no art" and is quite easy to enjoy. It presents a broad creative vision incorporating comic strips, pop-culture video stills, snapshot photographs, art installation views, graffiti photos, original fine art, skateboarding, and other tasty tidbits. While the mix of subjects and mediums might initially seem a bit disconnected from each other, the more time I spent with this book the more cohesive a vision it became. A portrait of an artist, his influences, and the subsequent expressions began to emerge. Most importantly, it was a vision I could relate to. I feel like I've been drawing from the same collected, popular influences... comic books, skateboarding, hipster art, video games, sarcasm, the movies of my youth (Nightmare on Elm Street, Robocop, Goonies...), partying, and junk food. This connection is all the more pleasing when I consider this artist and I have lived on opposite ends of the planet.

However much I might understand these inputs, I still feel this book presents an undeveloped statement. It has all the exciting rawness and excitement of a young artist, but it lacks the refined vision and thoughtful craftsmanship of experience. The artistic mediums represented in the book (street art, pop reference, party photos, comic strips) don't really support one another. Someone without a context of the wider scope of "hipster art" would get lost pretty fast. When any artist puts it ALL out there, the danger of being viewed as a "jack-of-all-trades, yet master of none" is present.

In my opinion, the weakest link in the book is the Hamburger Eyes-esque photographs. Maybe it is just me, but I've seen all these photos before. Someone puking... check. Someone tagging... check. Ugly old person in public... check. Tattooed hardcore singer on stage... check. I think the overall book would have been stronger without these, but maybe it's just me getting bored with that stuff.

The object itself is 5.5" x 8", 100 pages, perfect bound, black and white (with color cover), printed on various tinted papers, with most pages either being full-page or bisected into two images. Other than web links, there is no publication data or writing at all. I would have preferred straight-up white paper, and maybe an edition numbering, but that is just me nit-picking. My interweb research has come up with a retail price of $15, but I don't know if that is in US greenbacks or Oz-dollars (AKA dollaradoos), and what the difference would be either way.

In summary, Draw Some More stands tall in the world of art zines and is a fun and fascinating work from a young artist working in a lot of mediums. I look forward to seeing the evolution (and hopefully some refinement) in the Bad Teeth books series (the next one is already in the works and slated for a mid-2008 release). Unless it has a picture of some dude in a hotel room with a bunch of cash fanned out on the bed in front of him... in that case I'm over it. Let this book inspire you to stop waiting for whatever it is you are waiting for and put your art out there. Hell yeah.

Order your own copy of this and some other Bad Teeth books and products at the Bad Teeth web store.

other links for Bad Teeth Comics: website - myspace - blog

EC Horror part 2 - The Vault of Horror

In 1977, with the debut of the Complete Weird Science, Russ Cochran began publishing a series of deluxe reprints of the entire EC Library of New Trend (Horror, Suspense, and Crime comics from 1950-1955) as well as New Direction (1955-56) and some of the Pre-Tend comic books. 29 Years later, in 2006, with the release of The Complete Picto-Fiction, the series was finally completed in 2006.

Every issue from every title was presented chronologically in 2 to 5 volumes of smyth-sewn bound hardcover editions. The volumes are all compiled in a handsome hardboard slip case with color printing. Gorgeous. Each page is reproduced directly from the original artwork when possible, which was often thanks to the extensive preservation and storage by Cochran's friend and partner, EC Publisher William Gains. The artwork was presented in oversized black and white, which reveals the details and nuances of the amazing line work of contrast of the art. The stories and editorial essays are printed on crisp art-quality paper stock with the covers for each issues in full color on glossy paper. Each set originally sold for around $100 each, I believe.

Ever the fan of the EC Horror comics (I had been buying the Gladstone and Russ Cochran Publishing newsstand reprints since I was 13 years old), I impulsively sprang on an online auction for a used set of the Complete EC Library edition of The Vault of Horror. No regrets at all on this one. A bit faded (especially volume 3) on the covers, the pages are pristine and for under $150 bucks.

Compiled in the set are all 29 issues (#12-40 (the numbering continued from the previously titled War Against Crime)) of the Vault of Horror, each with cover artwork and one story by Johnny Craig. All the EC Horror Ghoulunatic characters (aka the Cryptkeeper, etc.) are present, and the ultra-talented stable of EC artists are at the top the game. The books are durable for re-reading, and the narratives still pack a punch half a century after being first published. There are even adapted tales from author Ray Bradbury.

As bold and beautify as the black and white reproductions are, I can't help but miss the colors of the original comics. Apparently Russ Cochran agrees because he and Gemstone publishing are currently in the process of printing the hardcover EC Archives again, but this time in full color. My other beef is with the editorial essays from various comic historians. I found these to be a bit over-literate and abstract for my taste. Once again, the new EC Archive books being currently created feature writing from modern creative celebrities like Spielberg, John Carpenter, and George A Romero.

I really can't recommend the entire EC New Trend comics enough. Even the Science-Fiction ones are all right. You can find back issues of the 1990s newsstand reprints of most of these titles for as little as one or two bucks each. Many agree that they are one of the crowning achievements of the medium. And they are gory and violent as all hell.

Read On:
Russ Cochran interview about the new EC Archives
Details and ordering of the Complete EC Library ($700 for Vault!)
My previous Blog about the Tales From the Crypt Official Archives book and EC's history

EC Horror part 1 - Tales From the Crypt: the Official Archives

For my money, the best comic books ever produced were the horror, crime, and suspense comics produced by EC (aka Entertaining Comics) in the 1950s. The art is just about the best ever and the stories are for the most part, gripping, suspenseful, and just plain entertaining. These comics have withstood the tests of time for over 50 years, being continually reproduced in different formats since the 1970s. Most recently a new series of full color, hardcover sets called the "EC Archives" were being published by Gemstone Publishing. There have been many original art auctions, oversized and "library" reproductions, not to mention the HBO television series and a couple of movies. But let us start at the beginning...

And the beginning, amazingly enough, is the beginning of all comic books. In 1933, Max Gains was a salesman for Eastern Color Printing, whose state of the art color presses printed the Sunday funnies for most of the East Coast's newspapers. Max published a 32-page booklet of newspaper comic reprints called "Funnies on Parade". These were offered as a premium with Ginger Ale, and eventually Max started printing comics to be sold in newsstands. Years later, with Harry Donenfeld, Max Gains would go on to publish the comics of Superman, Wonder Woman, and other Golden Age heroes until Gains sold his half of the company in 1945. He would immediately found Educational Comics and published sedate titles like Picture Stories from the Bible and Animal Fables.

In 1947, Max Gains unexpectedly died in a boating accident and his 25-year-old, recently divorced, goofball son, William, reluctantly took control the failing comic company. Despite it being a business he loathed, William Gains stuck it out and in 1948 he hired a brilliant young artist (with a knack for drawing voluptuous girls) named Al Feldstein. With a name change to Entertaining Comics, and a new direction towards, at first, romance, and then suspense, crime, science fiction, military fiction, and horror, EC comics was an industry leader within a year. In 1950, the comic books the Crypt of Terror (aka Tales from the Crypt), the Vault of Horror, and the Haunt of Fear all debuted as part of EC's New Trend series.

Amazing artwork accompanied four illustrated horror or crime stories in every issue. Each gruesome tale was bookended by a wise-cracking host to the horror comic, giving continuity to the unrelated events in each book. Most of the stories were originals written by Gaines and Feldstein. Gains, it has been told, concieved most of the stories while reading horror and sci-fi stories during his diet-pill-amphetamine induced insomnia. With four stories in each book, and two or three books coming out every month, this break-neck pace continued for over 3 years.

But in 1954, the publishing of the anti-comics study Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Frederic Wertham and the resulting congressional hearings on juvenile delinquency effectively shut-down operation on all horror, crime, and violent comics.

After attempting to continue with "New Direction" comics like Piracy, Valor, and Psychoanalysis, then with Picto-Fiction illustrated stories, Gains and EC published their last comic in late 1954 and focused all their energy on their last profitable enterprise... MAD Magazine.

In 1996, St. Martin's Press published Tales From the Crypt: the Official Archives, by Digby Diehl, which features more details on the amazing rise and tragic witch-hunt fall of EC Horror comics. With great photographs from the era, court documents, artist profiles, cover artwork from every EC horror title, and four complete tales reproduced in color, this coffee-table sized book is a must have for fans of the comics like me. The 2nd half of the book is dedicated to the resurrection of Tales with the big-named produced HBO television series starting in 1989 and running for 7 seasons. The book also features collectibles from the comic and television-era Crypts as well as a touching tribute to Bill Gains, who died in 1992. The book also presents a complete, never-before-published story and artwork from Shock-Illustrated #4 with art by Jack Davis.

Next blog I'll explore one of the crown jewels in my art book collection, the complete hardcover Vault of Horror library edition reprint, with slipcover. Until then, you can feast on these links:
Tales From the Crypt: From Comic Books to Television Documentary DVD
Time magazine article on the Rise and Fall of EC Horror (2004)
Russ Cochran's EC Comic Art Auctions (next on is January 15th, 2008!)
Tales From the Crypt DVDs