Torchy Todd Day!

Bill Ward was born on tomorrow's date in 1919. Ward was an amazing talent with a special kill drawing bodacious women. He created many Good Girl illustrations but he's most likely remembered for the focus of today's Dojo celebration -- Torchy. 

Bill Ward was a special artist. He had that uncanny knack of being able to simultaneously draw a fetching female who oozed sex and still seemed somehow impossibly demure.  A Ward woman was always exceedingly well endowed, gifted as it were with those special attributes men find alluring from a distance and even up close. Among Ward's greatest visions was his creation Torchy, a vintage hottie often rendered by the very talented Gill Fox after Ward was shifted to more traditional romance comics by his publisher. Torchy Todd is a blonde bombshell who affects the men around her with seismic intensity.

As you can see by the covers and recreations above, Torchy as illustrated by Ward made a most memorable impression. The artwork above for an early edition of Bob Overstreet's Price Guide also showcased the bodacious beauty and other lovelies as well. For the record: Wonder Woman, Bulletgirl, Hawkgirl, Miss Fury, Lady Luck, Sheena, and Phantom Lady.

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The Lady Is A Swinger!

As it turns out Wally Wood worked on several spy themed comics in addition to the THUNDER Agents. I will look at the hard-nosed Cannon later, but today we're looking over The Adventures of Pussycat. These are the zany misadventures of a ditzy but sexy young lady named Pussycat who ends up working for an organization called S.C.O.R.E. (Secret Council Of Ruthless Extroverts)fighting a gang dubbed L.U.S.T.(Legion of Undesirable Sinister Types). Turns out most if not all of the lust from both sides is directed at our lovely Pussycat who will in the fight against worldwide crime slip out of her duds at a moment's notice, in the cause of justice of course. 

This one was developed by Wally Wood and later produced by Bill Ward and later still by Jim Mooney for some of men's magazines that Marvel's parent also produced. Wally Wood's debut story hit the stands buried up in Male Annual #3. That sounds like stuff too good to remain hidden and this is one comic with its Bill Everett cover that needs a larger modern audience. Despite today being filled with "woke" folk, I'm all for a bit of this old-fashioned misogynistic Dadaistic entertainment!

Turns out these stories have been reprinted twice. Once by Marvel in 1968 as The Adventures of Pussycat, and much more recently by Mini-Komix under the title of Pussycat Tails. The reproduction ain't the greatest but the stories are bursting out with frothy inappropriate and mildly naughty entertainment. 

Pussycat Tales, a reprint of Marvel's vintage Pussycat magazine reprint keeps the tasty Bill Everett cover and all. It's a nifty package (ahem) and despite the somewhat smaller dimensions is still a bargain for anyone with a hankering for wacky misadventures of a well-drawn dame. Wally Wood leads the way, but it's the artwork of Jim Mooney and especially that of Bill Ward which makes this one a dazzler. I never get tired of looking at Ward's distinctive interpretations of modern women, women who are hyper sexual and almost always extremely powerful in their way. And Jim Mooney ain't no slouch either. 

In addition to the eleven little stories in this tome we also get some pin-ups. First a gallery dedicated to Lily St. Cyr, the real life inspiration for Pussycat according this tome. Also there is art by Wood, Mooney and especially Ward. They don't make comics like this anymore in these "woke" days but part of my caveman mentality wishes they did, especially as well crafted as these.

Check out this link for more details. It looks like there are a few versions.

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Pussycat Tails!

Thanks to my new-best-online-friend today Russ, I learned of Pussycat Tales, a reprint of Marvel's vintage Pussycat magazine reprint. I ordered it posthaste and it has arrived. It's a nifty package (ahem) and despite the somewhat smaller dimensions is still a bargain for anyone with a hankering for wacky misadventures of a well-drawn dame. Wally Wood leads the way, but it's the artwork of Jim Mooney and especially that of Bill Ward which makes this one a dazzler. I never get tired of looking at Ward's distinctive interpretations of modern women, women who are hyper sexual and almost always extremely powerful in their way.

In addition to the eleven little stories in this tome we also get some pin-ups. First a gallery dedicated to Lily St. Cyr, the real life inspiration for Pussycat according this tome. Also there is art by Wood, Mooney and especially Ward. They don't make comics like this anymore in these "woke" days but part of my caveman mentality wishes they did, especially as well crafted as these.

Check out this link for more details. It looks like there are a few versions.

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Pussycat Please!

I've been seeing lots and lots of fairly handsome facsimile comics on the stands from Marvel and others. Dynamite recently published a facsimile of the first Vampirella magazine from Warren. Well, if we are doing facsimiles, why not a reproduction of one of Marvel's most offbeat magazines -- Pussycat.

This one was developed by Wally Wood and later produced by Bill Ward for some of men's magazines that Marvel's parent also produced. That sounds like stuff too good to remain hidden and this is one comic with its Bill Everett cover that needs a larger modern audience. Despite today being filled with "woke" folk, I''m all for a bit of this old-fashioned misogynistic Dadaistic entertainment!

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For He-Men Only!

Here's a juicy Bill Ward cover for the third annual Adam Stag Humor. I'm always amused when guys of Ward's generation try to draw hippies. The end product always looks like somebody disguised as a hippie. I'm reminded of Dave Berg here for some reason. Whatever, it's sure colorful and as with all Ward images of voluptuous woman, it commands your attention.

Slightly more sexy is this dandy infinity cover for the debut issue of this annual series. The little Hefner-esque pipe gives her that saucy independent female vibe despite the provocative undies.

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Reform School Art!

Here's a bit of slightly forbidden fun from Bill Ward. It's his own personal take on the classic cover art for Avon's 1951 comic Reform School Girl!. Ward transformed the iconic comic cover into a very clever ad for a bookstore, a store I'd love to check out.

After doing a bit of internet research I learned that vintage photo cover had a curious origin itself. It first appeared on the comic but on a paperback

This cover is for the novel House of Fury by Felice Swados published by Avon in its paperback line. It's a very tough dame here, simultaneously tugging at her stocking and sucking a fag. That cigarette dangling precariously from her ruby lips speaks volumes about the nature of this corrupted chick, not someone to cross in the slam or out.

And here are couple of other comics for the same novel, with its original title. Both have their own pulp rooted merits. One offers a young woman appealing to heaven through prayer with her very bars forming a makeshift shadowy cross on the wall behind, while the other gives us an enticing caged and hard-bitten dame who fears neither man nor god.

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A Real Hottie!

Bill Ward was a special artist. He had that uncanny knack of being able to simultaneously draw a fetching female who oozed sex and still seemed somehow impossibly demure.  A Ward woman was always exceedingly well endowed, gifted as it were with those special attributes men find alluring from a distance and even up close. Among Ward's greatest visions was his creation Torchy, a vintage hottie often rendered by the very talented Gill Fox after Ward was shifted to more traditional romance comics by his publisher. Torchy Todd is a blonde bombshell who affects the men around her with seismic intensity.

As you can see by the covers above and below, Torchy as illustrated by Ward made a most memorable impression. Also on hand are some recreations Ward did based on these original Torchy covers. The artwork above for an early edition of Bob Overstreet's Price Guide also showcased the bodacious beauty and other lovelies as well. For the record: Wonder Woman, Bulletgirl, Hawkgirl, Miss Fury, Lady Luck, Sheena, and Phantom Lady.

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Price Guide Peek-A-Boob!

Bill Ward's way with drawing curvaceous women is unmatched in the comic book world. His bodacious and bosomy babes are immediately recognizable and on this early Overstreet Price Guide cover, they are very much in audacious evidence. Below is a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at his creative process as it shows this memorable cover in the midst of being created.

I noticed all the girls stay in their relative places and Sheena is the comic book babe who gets added. It's fantastic to get a look at these works-in-progress, something we will never get a chance to see with modern artists who logically but sadly use computers. The old world though offers us these treasures still.

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All In Color For A Damn Sight More Than A Dime!

One of the most important events in the history of comics was the publication in 1970 of Robert Overstreet's first Price Guide. It was a work which he did with the crucial assistance of legendary fan Jerry Bails, and this incomplete but significant work transformed a ragged two-bit pastime into a full-blown hobby and and shiny new industry.


Robert M. Overstreet (Pick Your Poison.)
Whatever came from that, good and ill, can be traced very much back to the impact of "THE Price Guide".

The first Guide I bought was the fifth volume (found it on a newsstand), but it would be many years before I saw or bought another. Once I found comic shops, it became a regular thing. Since Gemstone took over publication of the Guide, I personally have lost some interest in it as an item itself. It has become like so many of the comic books it tracks so self-conscious of itself as a collectible that it undermines the charm of the activity it lionizes.

But I do rather love old Price Guides, the ones from the early days, when the format was still relatively simple and the text could be read easily by people of all ages and didn't require me to break out the magnifying glass I once upon a time reserved for the Oxford English Dictionary. The early guides speak to the fan in subtle but specific and effective ways.

Here are the first twenty-five of those early lovely covers, by some of the industry's true talents. The earliest three covers aren't much, but the ones that followed for many years are masterpieces in my estimation and it was a huge thrill waiting to see just what who would be featured and how the cover design, logos and all, would reflect the specific subject. Sadly the later covers become more and more bland as the material and logos become standardized.




Don Newton

Joe Kubert

Will Eisner

Carl Barks

Bill Ward

Wally Wood

Alex Schomburg

L.B.Cole

Norman Mingo

Don Newton & Jeff Rubinstein

Bill Woggin

C.C.Beck

John Romita

Ron Dias

L.B.Cole

Jerry Robinson

Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson

Alex Schomburg

Mark Bagley & John Romita

Carmine Infantino

Mike Parobeck

John Romita Jr.
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