Scorchy Smith And The Art Of Noel Sickles

Absolutely excellent production. (And one of the cheapest I've bought at new-book price.) I don't think any commercial illustrator or comic strip artist have been given a better remembrance in book form. That is of course of slight importance if you do not admire the work of Noel Sickles, or find the often crude and brutal attitudes of popular culture abhorrent. Sickles was a commercial artist, and made what was demanded by those who paid him, which was, due to his early work as a comic strip artist and official war artist, mainly what the Americans call "action." Regrettably, when he turned to gallery art at the end of his life, the theme was still the killing of enemies. (Why anyone would enjoy having that framed on their wall is beyond me.)
Even if you already knew that Sickles was a marvellous draughtsman, you'll still be astonished at his versatility, and the mass of very well reproduced examples of it in this book. ( )