For the past couple of years the King Features blog Ask a Cartoonist had us pick a favorite poem. Last year I picked a classic, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman.
This year I’m going to my favorite pulp writer, Robert E. Howard.
For anyone unfamiliar with Robert E. Howard, his most popular creation was Conan the barbarian – a classic pulp fiction character if ever there was one.
Conan by Frank Frazetta
This poem I chose is Solomon Kane’s Homecoming.
The recording which follows came with the hardcover collection
“The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane” (1998).
It was illustrated by Gary Gianni, who drew King Features’ own Prince Valiant for a number of years – and beautifully so. Here’s a link: Gary Gianni – Prince Valiant.
And now, without further ado, Solomon Kane’s Homecoming – Read by Paul Blake.
Paul Ryan at GraniteCon 2015, Manchester, New Hampshire
Paul Ryan (September 23, 1949 – March 6, 2016)
Reprinted from Alex Saviuk’s Facebook page with permission.
I am deeply saddened and stunned by the passing of Paul Ryan so quickly and way too soon. I found out yesterday late morning and could not work anymore and had to make inquiries as to what happened that took him away from us and more importantly from his wife and immediate family.
I was able to speak at length with some close friends to share in our grief but at the same time revel in delight at what a wonderful guy he was and of course terrific artist he was as well. When I got to Marvel in 1986 Paul was just breaking into comics and he and I worked together on a NIGHTMASK fill-in in which he inked my pencils, but as time went on very quickly he became more prolific as a penciler and storyteller with an incredible work ethic that left many of his colleagues scratching their heads in awe.
At his peak he penciled the Fantastic Four and an Avengers book every month without missing a beat or sacrificing quality because of the sheer volume of work that he did religiously day after day with joy.
Even to this day he penciled inked and lettered the Phantom Daily strip without assistants and still just recently finished penciling and inking a Phantom story for Egmont overseas. I got to see his work first hand because his was the first part of a three part story and I needed to see his pages since I was drawing the second part. That was the last time I will have seen Paul Ryan…through his wonderful work.
Click on images to see larger.
Paul Ryan – pencilsPaul Ryan – inks
I wanted to call him and talk to him about how he managed to fit this into his already incredibly busy week but I didn’t which I now regret tremendously. I already miss that conversation that never happened. But I did speak with a mutual friend last night, Pete Klaus, who did manage to speak with him just a few days ago and things seemed well enough for the most part.
I am happy about being instrumental to some degree in getting Paul to Australia in 2014 the year after I was there so he could meet the adoring fans in that beautiful country and I know how appreciative they were that he and his lovely wife Linda made the trip. As far and as long as that trip was Paul made it back home and got back to work as usual.
This latest trip unfortunately will be his last from which he will not return in person…but the body of work that he left behind will be an everlasting legacy along with the many memories of the truly wonderful man he was.
Rest in peace, Paul… You will be a hard act to follow.
Alex Saviuk has worked for both DC and Marvel Comics – he currently draws the Amazing Spider-Man Sunday comic strip.
Alex Saviuk
Paul Ryan Remembrances
From Marv Wolfman’s Facebook page.From Joe Rubinstein’s Facebook page.From Ivan Pedersen’s Facebook page.
The Nutcracker by The Joe Kubert School aka Joe Kubert Click on images to see larger.
The dailies shown above were originally published December 2-25, 1985.
I don’t know if Sunday pages were also produced.
If anyone knows please drop me a line!
-Jim Keefe
– Update –
From George Hagenauer:
“I talked to Joe right before his death about this as I own (among other Kubert originals ) a Big Ben Bolt original that looked like his work. Basically over the years he would get commercial projects (The Winnie winkle comic strip, various comic related catalogs etc.) with the idea that they would involve the students and get them some needed experience and practice. These projects look like Kubert but usually are not signed by him. They are often a mix of his direction and the students art .
How much is Kubert and how much is students depended on the students skill- and sometimes it didn’t work or as Joe said they couldn’t handle “Big Ben Bolt so I ended up doing it all myself”
From Sam Kujava:
“When I was at Kubert’s School the first year, he offered me a week’s worth of Big Ben Bolt dailies to work on. Joe had already laid out the panels, and I went over them and tightened the pencils, making the art look a little more like my “style”. When I finished, on time, Joe took them back to ink. He showed them to me before he sent it off to the syndicate and it more or less totally looked like Joe did it all. No complaint, just observation.”
From D.D.Degg:
“You probably know by now that the NEA Christmas strips were daily only.
Joe Kubert and School did the seasonal strip from 1982 through 1985. (Weren’t you a freshman at The School in 1985?)
The Owosso (Mich) Argus-Press ran the 1982 (The Christmas Carol) and 1983 (Gifts of the Magi) strips.
Unfortunately they switched over to the Disney/King Features Christmas strips in 1984, so I hadn’t seen The School’s Hans Brinker (1984) or their 1985 The Nutcracker – until now (thanks again).
Yeah, they all look like Joe Kubert was deeply involved.
In 1981/82 the Joe Kubert School drew the Winnie Winkle strip. Some of those look like Joe took on more of a role of layout/art director and let the young’uns go at it.
These were actually signed J.K.S., for Joe Kubert School.
D.D.Degg mentions “they switched over to the Disney/King Features Christmas strips” – which coincidentally I colored in the 90s when I was on staff at King.
Examples of Disney holiday strips I colored for King Features.
Many thanks for the added info – greatly appreciated! If I find out anything more (like students who helped work on them) I’ll be sure to keep you posted…
Notice anything different regarding the Sally Forth strips for June 13-18, 2015? They were pencilled by none other than former Sally Forth artist, Craig MacIntosh.
Craig was generous enough to help me out on a tight deadline and I couldn’t have been happier with the results. Here’s copies of MacIntosh’s pencils followed by my inks.
Note: Click on art to see larger.
And if you’re a fan of techno-thrillers, check out some of the books Craig MacIntosh has out at cjmacintosh.com – highly recommended!
