Friday 29 March 2013

"Welcome To America" By Michael Heath, (published by William Heinermann Ltd, London 1985) - Part 2

 
 
This is a great collection of drawings by one of Britain's most famous cartoonists of the past few decades, Michael Heath (born 1935). Inspired by the artist's trip to the United States they provide a poignant insight of the country, its people and way of life seen from a European perspective. They remind me of similar drawings by George Gross - another great European (German) artist - of  American cities and way of life in the years after World War Two. I will be posting some of those as well in the near future.
 
 
In the eighties, the world's perception of American society came through shows like Dallas and Dynasty that did not include any ordinary characters or real life drama so portraying the more gritty aspects of the country would have been refreshing and evocative to the British audience.     
             
 
Some of these guys wouldn't even fit inside the A-Team's van, let alone star in the show but super heroes have to look cool and so perfect always or the movies wouldn't sell any tickets!
 

Monday 25 March 2013

"The President Of Cyprus - Nikos Anastasiades: The Lone Rider", by Harris (2002)


It's hard to miss the stories on Cyprus and its unfortunate, troubled banks all over the media these days. As a Cypriot living in the UK, hearing the occasional story from home featured in the main BBC news is normally a pleasant experience ; I never thought I'd ever see such a huge volume of headline stories unfolding daily from our tiny country - with potentially catastrophic effects on millions of people through out Europe! Surely, whatever the deal between the Cypriot government and its "partners", trust in the banks of any European country (not to mention the European Union itself!) will be gone forever. And the banking system, surely, cannot function without trust. After six years of Bank scandals around the world why should any one leave their money in their hands or invest in them in any way?

This is a portrait I did of Mr Anastasiades (the hapless cypriot president) back in 2002 for MAN magazine in Cyprus. I had the idea then to present him as "The lone rider" (inspired of course by Lucky Luke!) as he was having difficulties forming coalition with other parties at the time. How prophetic this image turned out to be eleven years later as he was returning to Cyprus from Brussels today alone, penniless, and with no partner standing by him...

Monday 18 March 2013

"Secret Origins, Starring Green Lantern And The Sandman", DC Comics Inc, New York, 1986, Part 4

 
A few more brilliant stills from this one - the creators for The Sandman story were Roy Thomas and Michael Blair (an extensive article on him and his contribution to Marvel Comics and DC Comics here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bair )
 
 
 

Tuesday 12 March 2013

"Secret Origins, Starring Green Lantern And The Sandman", DC Comics Inc, New York, 1986, Part 3

 
Drama, tension and high emotions with every frame - qualities lacking from other art forms these days. Another reason that makes (good) comic pages so engaging and thrilling...
 
 
 
 

 

Tuesday 5 March 2013

"Secret Origins, Starring Green Lantern And The Sandman", DC Comics Inc, New York, 1986, Part 2

 

There is so much skill going into designing each frame and its function within the whole page that amazes me every time I look at these old comics. The drawings are so lean but so striking that grab your attention even if you don't happen to be a comics fan. I'll be taking a few more scans of individual panels from this 1986 issue to illustrate this. Here's an article from wikipedia on Ernie Colon (born 1931) who was the editor for DC Comics at the time as well as the creator of these drawings.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Col%C3%B3n