Here's an interesting piece that originally appeared on the back cover of a 1983 issue of THE COMIC READER. Featuring the pioneering Harvey Comics superheroine, THE BLACK CAT, at first glance it would seem to have been drawn by that feature's longtime artist, Lee Elias. Something about it didn't quite seem right, though, so I check inside the issue and see that it's credited to our own longtime reader/commenter Sam Kujava in the style of Elias! Hmmm... Then I start speculating on what it was done for originally and I recall that Sam attended the Kubert school around this time. Then I recall that Lee Elias was teaching at said school around the same time! Could this have benn done as an exercise for a class at the school? Only Sam can tell us! No matter what its origins, it is quite the nice pin-up!
Yes, Steve, it was I, Sam "Homage"
ReplyDeleteKujava that drew that copy of Lee
Elias' art!
It originally appeared in an issue
(#1 or #2) of Steranko's History of
The Comics. I was trying to do Elias style pencil and inks and followed his drawing closely. I don't remember the details of why
it appeared on the back cover of TCR, but my column therein frequently covered Lee's then current work, up to his retirement.
I probably offered it to editor
Mike Tiefenbacher and he was kind
enough to use it.
Oh, and I was at Kubert's School
ReplyDeleteduring its first year of operation,
1976-77. Lee only taught the first semester, but we became friends and stayed in touch. 1983 marked
the last year of TCR publication,
so there is a gap in time there.
1983 was also the year of my first
professional comic book sale: the inside of Red Circle's THE FLY #4!
Ditko cover and lead story! I was
in great company!