Dan Gordon

John K wrote about Dan Gordon today, so this was a good time to post some of his comics. He was a story artist at Fleischer's and then when Famous Studios was formed in New York he was one of the directors. He directed the classic Superman short "Mechanical Monsters" and also did some great work on Popeye - then he was no longer working for Famous Studios, and he started doing comics. Not sure what happened at Famous, but Gordon spent most of the '40s and '50s doing comics, mostly for ACG but also for DC, working for Jim Davis (the Fox & Crow artist, not the Garfield artist) Then he worked as story artist at Hanna Barbera in their early days on Huckleberry Hound & Flintstones. Here are some comics from the early '40s that show off Dan's skill as a cartoonist - I like the way he'll sometimes imply the punchline instead of making it obvious. He had a long-running series "Superkatt" in Giggle Comics that was briliantly written and drawn. For today, here are some selected shorts.

Anton Grot

Anton Grot was the Art Director at Warner Brothers Studios from the late twenties through the '40s. He had started working in movies in 1913, so he was already very experienced when he started at Warners. He created sketches for set designs that are brillliant works of art in their own right. He would create the set-up for the "Master Shot" for a scene, and then this is all the set that would be built - sometimes incorporating false perspective, so the set could only be photographed from one camera angle, or it would look fake. (an example of how good design makes good business sense) The collection of Grot's originals is at UCLA Library, and years ago I asked permission to take pictures of some of these. (I had an alumni card at the library) They've since gotten more strict about taking pictures - I think these pieces should be in a museum for people to see - they're relatively small (most are about 4x5 inches - some smaller) and drawn in pencil on paper, but they reallly show how the "Warner Brothers look" really came from his designs. Enjoy.

Owen Fitzgerald

Owen was the first really good artist I met when I started working at Hanna Barbera in 1978. He'd just sit at his desk with a 4b pencil in one hand and a cigarette in the other, drawing these quick flowing lines which became great, expressive drawings of Scooby Doo, or Jabberjaws. Owen's first job in the animation business was inbetweener on "Snow White". He did layouts for Chuck Jones at Warner Bros in the '40s. After the war, he did a lot of comics for DC; "Bob Hope" and "Fox & Crow" and lots of others that I haven't seen. Bill Hanna loved Owen's drawings, though Owen later told me he never "got" the HB style like the Flintstones or Yogi Bear. The "flat" design-ey style was not something he understood - He drew "classic" cartoons and he drew them well. As an animator in the early '80s I would always be happy to get a scene laid out by Owen, because the drawings were so loose and expressive - it was much nicer to work from a loose drawing, where you could see the lines of action etc., rather than a tight, cleaned up drawing. (I wish I would have saved some of those drawings, but I took it for granted, and it was "only Scooby Doo!) Years later I was lucky to have Owen working for me at Warner Animation on the first season of "Tiny Toons". I hope you enjoy looking at these drawings by a "really good artist".

Lynd Ward's Woodcut Novel

Lynd Ward's first woodcut novel, "God's Man", was published in 1929

It tells the story of a youn artist who goes to the big city in search of fame and fortune. He meets a dark man in a tavern, who gives him a magic brush. This brush was owned by all the greatest artists in history, and it was this brush which painted all their masterpieces. The boy signs a contract and soon he is a sensational success as an artist.

But he soon finds that the city is corrupt, everything is all about money - He sees the city's ugly underside -

He flees the city for a more natural life closer to nature

He starts a new life, creating art for his new family -

One day the dark man shows up - Well you can guess what happens next - Beware of the magic brush! (or the magic pencil, stylus or whatever!)

The plot may be predictible and the characters one dimensional but Ward's graphics are incredibly powerful. He had studied in Germany in the '20s and was influenced by the Expressionist artists of the day. Franz Masereel had made several woodcut novels in Germany, and Ward was the first to do it in the US. The book was very popular, going through several printings - even inspiring Milt Gross' "He Done Her Wrong" (The Great American Novel and not a word in it - no music, too) Ward went on to make 4 more woodcut novels through the '30s. His plots got a little more sophisticated, with a "social conscience" typical of much depression-era art. Later, he illustrated novels and children's books. God's Man & his second, Madman's Drum, are available from Dover Press.