Hooves of Death: back cover ad and its sources

For the back cover of this faux-Golden Age comic, I cooked up this faux-Golden Age ad. This is a combination of digital collage and original art:

draft 1 consolidated FLAT - B jpg

 

If you’re old enough to remember the American Seed Company ads, this will all mean more to you, of course.

Here are some of the real ads that inspired me (and from which I pilfered elements):

1get prizes make money JPG

2men women boys girls - Impact JPG

And then especially these Cloverine Salve ads, which featured little comic strips like the one I drew for mine (you can click on these to make them more readable):


4secret of treasure cave - daredevil 93 JPG

 

Some showed how valuable the prizes could really be.  You might even use them to stop a rampaging gorilla:

3 Gorilla ad - Battle n41 july 55

 

The ads could get pretty bizarre.  This one has a strangely apocalyptic tone: the “FUNman” lets the kiddies know that the World is on Fire!

6The World is on Fire - Crime Does Not Pay 132 JPG

Here is a get-rich-quick scheme for the young folks, basically encouraging Jimmy to become a small-time crooked casino operator:

5 Slot Machine Bank - Crime and Punishment 28 JPG

One of my favorites is this Charles Atlas-type pitch, with art by Captain Marvel artist, C.C. Beck, which suggests an unusual use for your new he-man body: advancing at work by punching out your fellow workers!

7mini-gym cc beck crime does not pay 89 JPG

 

Hooves of Death: One last re-draw

Finished drawing the last page of this story, but I had some UN-finished business as well: I had grown disatisfied with the splash panel I drew… oh, nearly six years ago now:


p1 splash panel jpg

Problems: the horse is too pudgy, and looks more like a stuffed donkey to me.  Also not happy with the way I drew the skirt.  I’ve done a lot more drawing of horses and clothing in the past couple months, so I thought it was worth updating. And take another crack at the Ghost flying in, why not?

I used a lightbox, so I could just re-draw the figures, and have them in correct positions to insert digitally into the page, without having to re-letter, etc. Other than perhaps the tail, I think everything is better:

splash redraw grayscale jpg

 

Or, if you prefer to compare via an animated gif:

pg-1-v2-animated