For art's sake: Nobby Clark's lost Auckland

The Howe Street Conveniences

The Cook St Market

The International Yoga Centre on Nelson St

Plaza Arcade

Parnell

The Duck Pond at the Auckland Domain

The ferry buildings

Upper Queen Street

The Higher Thought Temple on Union Street

The Pink Pussy Cat on K Road

The Victoria Street Market

The Grey Lynn Book Exchange

I remain a devoted fan of Auckland cartoonist Nobby Clark's slices of New Zealand life in the 1970s and 80s, and his portrayal of a city that doesn't exist anymore.

For art's sake: Steve's story

Steve Dillon left behind a phenomenal body of artwork when he died. It still wasn't nearly enough, but there was a lot of it. He teamed up with some fine writers in that time, and every now and then, just occasionally, he would write his own stories, and they were always slightly more personal and heartfelt (except for the last original Rogue Trooper story he did for a 2000ad Winter Special, which was just mental).

This effort, from one of the A1 comics published by Atomeka Press in the early nineties, is one of the more personal ones.

For art's sake: Tony De Zuniga's Jonah Hex (in black and white)

For art's sake: Epic Comics in the Year 1987

Advertisements for other comic books reached some kind of creative zenith in the 1980s, and Epic was no exception.

For art's sake: Frozen (one of 100 horrors)

Paul Chadwick's 100 Horrors short comics, which used to run in the back of his Concrete books, never got close to the magic 100 numbers before the artist moved on, but they were suitable eerie, with some nightmarish and simple tales of terrible things happening. And sometimes they were just bloody funny, (the one with a falling star is a cracker).

This one was always my favourite, and still sticks in my mind as a particularly dreadful way for the human race to go out. (Click on the images to actually read the darn thing.)

For art's sake: Look at what Cam Kennedy can do

 

Cam Kennedy is the best comic book action artist of the past 40 years, bar none.