{"product_id":"light-and-dart-the-art-of-lee-elias","title":"LIGHT AND DARK The Art of Lee Elias","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLee Elias\u003c\/strong\u003e drew comics for several decades from the 1940s to the 1980s, first with Fiction House, then he became the #1 cover artist for the Harvey Horror pre-code comics. His lush brushstrokes were equally matched by his fine pen line. Now at last, his body of work can be fully appreciated in this book devoted entirely to him. Includes many of his gory horror comics covers in full color and full page; original art, a lengthy interview from 1970 and a fine Appreciation by \u003cstrong\u003eMichael  J. Gilbert\u003c\/strong\u003e.\n\nFinally, a long overdue book on one of the greatest artists that emerged to prominence during the horror comics scene of the 1950s. He did his first comic art work in 1943 for Fiction House illustrating such comics such as \u003cem\u003ePlanet\u003c\/em\u003e (Space Rangers, Gale Allen), \u003cem\u003eWings\u003c\/em\u003e (Captain Wings, Phantom Falcon) and \u003cem\u003eFirehair\u003c\/em\u003e. At DC around 1948-50, he drew some of the last issues of \u003cem\u003eAll Star Comics, \u003c\/em\u003eco-created with Robert Kanigher the classic \u003cem\u003eFlash\u003c\/em\u003e villain The Fiddler, and worked on the last issues of \u003cem\u003eThe Flash \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eGreen Lantern\u003c\/em\u003e, also co-creating Star Saphire.\n\nIn 1946 he started a long association with Harvey Comics as principal artist on the cute young Black Cat from the first issue of her own title, right through to when it became the horror title Black Cat Mystery, where his artwork truly excelled. He was often the cover artist and always a steady story artist for the Harvey Horror titles \u003cem\u003eTomb of Terror, Chamber of Chills,\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eWitches Tales\u003c\/em\u003e!\n\nElias’s work for Harvey Comics rivaled the EC comics of the time and today many issues number amongst the most collectible of the Pre-Code horror era, particularly for their wild covers—acid or radiation in the face, rats eating human, vampires, rotting corpses, skeleton covers, devils, aliens, spacemen etc. Even his romance work at Harvey was steamy and his girls were pretty and appealing. DC later on in the sixties also had him doing romance work because of his ability to drawing appealing ladies. Leon Harvey even let him sign his work, a rarity for their creators in the fifties.\n\nSeveral of the pre-code Harvey covers, both horror and romance, are accompanied by their original roughs and studies! These are really fun to see how he worked out both artwork and color! Many printed covers are also shown along the original artwork (thanks to Heritage Auctions).\n\nLike many artists of the era, he was strongly influenced by one of the very greats, Milton Caniff. But Elias took that as a starting point and excelled beyond even Caniff.\n\nHe illustrated the well-known and excellent space comic strip \u003cem\u003eBeyond Mars\u003c\/em\u003e from 1952 to 1955. And continued working for Harvey. In the 1970s, he added Marvel (\u003cem\u003eMarvel Fanfare\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eEpic Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e) and Warren’s magazines to his portfolio. Upon retiring from comics, he became an instructor at the School of Visual Arts and the Joe Kubert School.\n\nSometimes overlooked and underappreciated, this fine new book will nicely address that issue!\n\nThere's a massive 25 page interview with Lee Elias from 1970. This was originally printed in a low print run British fanzine of the time. Half of it then appeared in an early issue of \u003cem\u003eAlter Ego \u003c\/em\u003emagazine, #14. The full interview is printed here in its entirety for the first time since 1970.\n\nThe interview is fascinating. Elias was one of the top rated artists in the early 1950s; DC offered him top page rates but Harvey didn’t want to lose him and matched the rates, then only asking him to pencil! He’s also a man who was passionate about doing well-drawn comics, doing the best job possible whether for horror, Black Cat, romance, mystery adventure (his DC work included \u003cem\u003eStrange Adventures, Unexpected, House of Mystery, \u003c\/em\u003eEclipso,Tommy Tomorrow, etc). He knew all the players, writers, editor and artists, and had forthright and quite respectable opinions about whoever he worked with. It like a black from the past, an interview with a still-in-demand artist about his work from 19460 to 1970, one in 1970. Carmine Infantino had just become DC’s Editorial Director at this time, which was quite a signficant time for DC.\n\nThere are dozens of full page examples of Lee's cover art, both printed and original art versions. The book also features examples of the thumbnail layouts by fellow Harvey Comics artist Warren Kremer which went into producing many of the covers.\n\nAnd comic strips too!\n\nLee Elias was a master of the comic book medium. Equally adept with swathes of black ink applied with a sable brush as he was with fine line pen work drawn with a steel nib dip pen. His horror comic covers were so gruesome that several of them were shown in Dr. Frederick Wertham's book \u003cem\u003eThe Seduction of the Innocent\u003c\/em\u003e as examples of comics that were (supposedly) corrupting the youth of 1950s America.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"vendor-unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":59643452850462,"sku":"LIGDA","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0999\/0684\/7006\/files\/ligda-light-and-dark-lee-elias-book.jpg?v=1784515774","url":"https:\/\/shop.budsartbooks.com\/products\/light-and-dart-the-art-of-lee-elias","provider":"Bud's Art Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}