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| Copyright REBELLION |
Here's a panel-by-panel presentation of half a page of a FRANKIE STEIN strip by the late, great, KEN REID that I was given nearly 30 years ago. I no longer have it, but I was smart enough to laser-scan and laminate it before relinquishing ownership, and thought you might appreciate the opportunity of studying the detail at the original drawing size. Nice, eh?
Below is the full, published version from WHAM! #29, January 2nd 1965. The patch which changed 'am' to 'ain't' on the note in panel four was already missing when the original art first came into my possession. (I may have shown this strip before, but not the scan of the original art.)
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Excellent stuff again - pure class by Ken Reid really like the detail in panel 5 where Micky runs out the Manor and panel 6, the face of Frankie(seen that reproduced a few times but never seen the strip it came from) Good strip as well - sigh comics used to be fantastic when Reid did them.
ReplyDeleteComics are definitely the poorer for the absence of cartoonists like Reid, Baxendale, Watkins, Nixon, Parlett, and a whole host of others, McScotty. There are some good artists around today, but there doesn't seem to be as many as in former years. I guess that Brirish comics just don't pay enough to attract the top talent (with a few exceptions, obviously).
ReplyDeleteDo you still own any original art Kid, of have you passed it all on?
ReplyDeleteStill got around a dozen or so pages, George. See the previous Frankie Stein panels I posted - they were from the original art. (You never commented, so may have missed them.)
ReplyDeleteGreat way to start Friday (here in Aus) running the eyes over all that amazing Ken Reid art! At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old guy there don't seem to be as many individual stylists around in comics these days, some, though not all of the art I hasten to add, in both the funny and dramatic fields has a generic look to it. Back in the day there was no way you could confuse a Baxendale for a Reid, Nixon or whoever. Thanks for sharing these.
ReplyDeleteI've been pondering this, PC, and I'd like to think that there are still quite a few great individual cartoonists around even today. However, I don't think that there's as many opportunities in what few British comics are left, and they probably don't pay as much as other avenues of artistic endeavour.
ReplyDeleteKid, loving these panel-by-panel posts. You get to drink in every single detail like never before. I spend ages on each panel.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're enjoying them, JP. In my opinion, they illustrate (npi) just how impoverished (by comparison) some of the strips were in The Dandy before it was cancelled.
ReplyDeleteWell I couldn't actually bring myself to buy any of the later Dandy's when I saw a funny-looking Desperate Dan on the cover with tiny little legs, looking like those "Ren & Stimpy" type of cartoons they started making for kids in the 90's! Kids of today might like that kind of thing, but " it's not my bag, baby!"
ReplyDeleteI bought a few to support it when it was relaunched in 2010, but it was so awful I gave up on it - along with about 7 and a half thousand other readers. Those responsible for its awfulness still deny any responsibility.
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