I’ll be honest with you, I have no earthly idea what this is other than a really cool super hero drawing by the great Barry Windsor-Smith dating from the mid seventies. An advertising piece for Quasar televisions perhaps? An unused Marvel character? A Gorblimey Press castoff? Anybody with more info than me, please feel free to comment.
Hey Steven,
ReplyDeleteThough t this would be a good time to let you know how much I'm enjoying the blog. Really nice variety. Keep it up!
I'm afraid I don't have much info on the BWS illo but I do have a copy of "Cartoonists and Illustrators Portfolio Vol. 1" ( a quality mag / catalogue listing original magazine & book illustrations, newspaper strips, and comic book art for sale by mail ) from 1977 with this piece listed. The caption is brief but reads:
"A Smith superhero in brush and ink on heavy illustrtion board ( 14" X 17" ). This piece was originally comissioned by a Chicago ad agency. An unusual departure for Smith, created and designed using reproducable zip-a-tone shading. $500."
The art is identical to your reproduction with the exception of the "Captain Quasar" title being absent. I wish I had been a more tuned-in 9 year old comic collector in '77( with a MUCH bigger allowance! ) because the list of amazing art in this catalogue that I'd love to own includes ( all going for what now are paltry sums ) peices from Kirby, Bob Peak & Frank McCarthy, Peter Dribin, Jack Davis, Hal Foster, Milt Caniff and Windsor McCay just to name a few. Where's that time machine when you need it!?