By Craig Yoe (Last Gasp)
ISBN 13: 978-0-86719-653-5
Despite the somewhat prurient and sensationalistic – not to say salacious – title, this compilation of cartoons and illustrations, culled from the private files and bins of a number of our industry’s greatest stars (and also many from the drawing boards of those infamous scallywags of the animation industry) is a charming insight into the capabilities and accomplishments of a talented crowd of individualists.
To European eyes there is very little amiss here, but one needs to remember just how prudish and censorious (I personally prefer the terms “daft†and “ridiculousâ€) the American “family values†lobby is and always has been. Two brilliantly telling examples would be the covering of Flossie the Cow’s udders first by a skirt (1932) and eventually (1939) by a full dress (she also had to stop walking on all-fours because it was unladylike) and Mort Walker’s navel collection (apparently a syndicate editor had a problem with belly buttons and always returned Beetle Bailey strips that featured one. Walker would scalpel them off the artwork and collect them in a pot on his desk).
Collected and compiled by fan, historian, Renaissance man and cool bloke Craig Yoe (among his many accomplishments he counts being Creative Director of the Muppets – bet you want to Google him now, don’t you?) and with an introduction by a proper “Dirty†cartoonist Robert Crumb, this is a frothy book of rather chaste naked lady pictures (and often not even that) in colour and monochrome, from some of the best artists and cartoonists in modern history – although you might want to check the oddly incongruous contributions of Gustave Doré and Thomas Rowlandson before giving a copy to your eight-year old.
So if you’re unflappable, incorruptible or just not from Kansas or Georgia, you might want to sneak a peak at this stellar cast of incorrigibles which includes Jack Kirby, James Montgomery Flagg, George Herriman, Joe Shuster, Steve Ditko, Charles Schulz, Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond, Chuck Jones, Dr, Seuss, Carl Barks, Bob Kane, Rube Goldberg, Bruce Timm, Alex Toth, Fred Moore, Dan DeCarlo, Dave Berg, Ernie Bushmiller, Sergio Aragones, Jack Davis, Billy DeBeck, Hal Foster, Harry G. Peter, Paul Murray, Neal Adams, Al Jaffee, Wally Wood, Nick Cardy, Hank Ketcham, Johnny Hart, Walt Kelly , Adam Hughes, Alex Schomburg, Al Williamson, Henry Boltinoff, Stan Drake, Dik Browne, Matt Baker, Otto Soglow, Al Capp, John Severin, Jim Steranko, Jack Cole, Bill Everett, Grim Natwick, Will Eisner and many others.
© 2007 Gussani-Yoe Studio, Inc.
All illustrations are © 2007 their respective artist and/or © holders.