Happy Birthday, Frank Faylen!

He's probably best remembered for playing Herbert T. Gillis, father of Dobie on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis", a terrific old sitcom from 1959-1963.

That's all the excuse I need to show off this recently acquired page of Bob Oksner original art from issue 22 of DC's Dobie series that captures a fair amount of the show's (and Faylen's) personality.

Of course this time of year, it's easy to catch Frank as "Ernie" the cab driver (opposite Ward Bond's "Bert" the cop) in "It's a Wonderful Life"... a movie that's jam-packed with great character actors.

Holly Wood celebrates Oksner night, with a special appearance by Mr. Warren Beauty!

Sorry, I couldn't resist the awful triple pun. No, those aren't typos. The girl's name is "Miss Holly Wood", she's meeting Warren BEAUTY and the artist is Bob OKSNER.

I think there are a few Oksner fans who frequent this blog so I'm posting these pages and hoping that someone can identify them for me. They were (obviously) pencilled and inked by Mr. Oksner, lettered by Ben Oda and the story looks like it might have appeared in a 1970's DC comic. Someone suggested they might have been scripted by Bob Kanigher but I haven't confirmed that either.

But were they ever published? No one I've asked seems to have any idea. The GCD has no listings that fit so I'm stumped.

Nice art, though, ain't it?

Punisher #6, page two

Once again, the original art scan is courtesy of Ashley Salter. Pencils by Dave Ross. I inked this very heavy and used a lot of zip-a-tone because I was nervous about the coloring we might get. Turned out there was no reason to worry, John Wellington did a beautiful job on the color guides. I was very happy when I saw this one in print.

Moon Knight #30 back cover art

From 1983. Scan of the original art is courtesy of Ashley Salter. This was essentially an ad for the next issue.

Arak and Captain Carrot

From 1982. Believe it or not, this a published piece.  I think it accompanied a Roy Thomas interview in the Comics Journal.  I really didn't have a clue about inking back then.

Jack B. Quick original art

This page really cracks me up. Poor Teddy.

Since he had to be recognizable from ages 8 to about 48, I gave him a distinct haircut and very recognizable facial features.

I tried to make the scan large enough so that you can see the notes and corrections. I haven't been able to find any copies of the pencils but if they turn up later I'll be sure to post them as well.

I remember struggling with the layout on that last panel. It wasn't an easy action for me to work out but I think it gets the idea across. On the other hand, if I had it to do over, I might not show Jack smiling as he delivers the line. His standard scowl probably would have worked better.

An Alex Toth original

These days there are strict rules for returning original art to the artists after the publishers are finished with it. We have Neal Adams to thank for the fact that art is no longer warehoused, shredded, given away by editors, or turned over and used as paste-up boards for house ads like this oversize Alex Toth original from 1963.

Someone took a black grease pencil or China marker and drew big "X"s across the front and glued stats to the back for an ad.

It's a shame, because Toth's art is beautiful. He inked it with real India ink, not the less-than-permanent markers he started using almost exclusively a few years later. There are some really effective dry brush textures on the cape in the last panel as well as the explosion in the panel before it. Toth lettered the sound effects but the rest of the text is by another hand. Nice art, given to me many years ago by inker extraordinaire John Nyberg.

Sketch books

I set up an eBay listing for these so you can buy them directly from me. Just $10 plus postage and I'll do a simple sketch on the back gratis. This is a bit of an experiment since I haven't tried selling this way before but we'll see how it goes. Just follow this link.

Batman gargoyle drawing: No longer on eBay

Sorry, folks. I had to end the auction early. My sincere apologies to all of you who bid or were planning on bidding.

Batman gargoyle drawing

I'll write more about this later, but I'm about to step out and I wanted to post these scans before I leave.

Pen and ink, India ink, 11 x 17", etc...

I'll probably be selling this one, either directly or on eBay. Contact me here if you're interested.

New original art

Be sure to check out the "Original Art" link to the right.  I've finally put up some pages from the Batman Confidential series I did with Garcia-Lopez.  Once you get to the art page, there's an email link at the bottom if you're interested in buying any of the pages.

I also have the cover art for Batman Confidential #28 on eBay this week.  You can find it here.