Marvel Fanfare portfolios: The terrific Jackson Guice

- Originally published in Marvel Fanfare #9

Marvel Fanfare portfolios: The incredible Bob Layton

- Originally published in Marvel Fanfare #39

Marvel Fanfare portfolios: The stunning Mark Badger

-Originally published in Marvel Fanfare #50

Marvel Fanfare portfolios: The mighty Charles Vess

- Originally published in Marvel Fanfare #20

Marvel Fanfare portfolios: The remarkable June Brigman

- Originally published in Marvel Fanfare #53 and 54

Marvel Fanfare portfolios: The spectacular Craig Hamilton

- Originally published in Marvel Fanfare #35

Marvel Fanfare portfolios: The astounding Kevin Nowlan

 - Originally published in Marvel Fanfare #18 

 (It's another round of school holidays, so the Tearoom of Despair is going into low content mode for a couple of weeks while I take the kids to the zoo and the movies to see the new Shaun the Sheep. As always, I am filling the void in daily posting with artwork that makes me happy, and in this case it's my favourite pin-ups sections from the Marvel Fanfare series of the 80s. That comic was full of strange little one-off stories with some remarkable artwork, and sometimes editor supreme Al Milgrom would devote a few pages to the artwork of various artists. The fashions may have changed, the characters they depict might look nothing alike anymore, but they still all look gorgeous to me. Holy shit, I can't stop looking at the Mark Badger chalk drawings.)

Airtight Garage: At last!

- The Airtight Garage (Epic ) #1
Story and art by Moebius 

Translated by RJM Lofficier 

Colours by Isabelle Leconte, Rick Wayne, Arlette Auvergne, Allison Kendis and Chris Palomino 

Letters by John Workman, Gaspar Saladino, Kevin Nowlan and Phil Felix

The Joker doesn't need any daddy issues

Considering how much American genre fiction loves giving its characters daddy issues to explain all their complex problems, I am genuinely pleased that nobody has ever picked up what Marty Pasko and Irv Novick put down on the last panel of the 70s Joker series, and the promise of the story of his father. 

It's a very weird final issue, with Elton John showing up as the devil and the Joker murdering/not murdering the Justice League, and ends on this cliffhanger which remains unresolved to this day (as far as i know). And long may it remain so - the Joker doesn't need something as basic as a traumatic childhood to explain his homicidal laughs, that's far too easy for him.