Weird War Tales #102, Page 31

Artists: Trevor Von Eeden (Penciller) , Jerry Ordway (Inker) , Gaspar Saladino (Letterer)

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Artwork Details

Title:	Weird War Tales #102, Page 31
Artist:	Trevor Von Eeden (Penciller)
Artist:	Jerry Ordway (Inker)
Artist:	Gaspar Saladino (Letterer)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	762
Likes on CAF:	1 2
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	10/29/2017
Comic Art Archive:	Weird War Tales Issue: 102 Page: 31 View

Description

What drew me to this page was that it was pencilled by Trevor Von Eeden and inked by Jerry Ordway. Ordway's influence on Von Eeden's pencils is immediately apparent on this page. You can see it in the faces of the characters in the third panel in particular. There's an early hint of those wide-eyed Ordway faces. I also note with delight that Ordway has employed a classic Kirby-dot approach to the cosmic energies and backdrop of the space-set scene in the fourth panel.

What I really love about this board is the abundance of vintage elements. Zip-a-Tone has been cut out and pasted onto aspects of the third, fourth and sixth panels to convey shadow and darkness. The Zip-a-Tone was also clearly meant to add depth, because Ordway uses traditional black ink for some shadows in the final panel. I'm delighted the applied plastic hasn't yellowed much, even more than 35 years after it was used here, though the same can't be said of the register tape at the sides and bottom of the page (the tape at the top has been removed or fell off, leaving a faded yellow rectangle in its place). Still, some yellowing on a page this old is to be expected, and it further reinforces the unique and dated qualities of the board.

Something else to be appreciated and studied on this board is the lettering by the late Gaspar Saladino, a prolific master of comics lettering and logo design. What's most interesting about his work here is that he's employed two approaches to the lettering. Most of it is lettered directly onto the board, but a couple of elements have been pasted onto the page: the digital display reading "YOU MUST PERSEVERE!" in Panel 2, and only one of the two sound effects in Panel 5, namely "PFFFT!" Clearly, the letterer wanted the precise nature of the digital font to be perfect, so it appears he cut those letters out of a printed resource.

There are a lot of little touches to be found that belie the creative and production process, and I always love to see evidence of the human hands that handled the board ahead of printing. There's some whiteout visible at the upper left corners of panels 1 and 4, and again on the right side of Panel 5 (in this instance, to allow the dialogue tails to interrupt the panel border). There are numerous editing marks in blue pencil, and if one looks closely enough, one can even see some of the original graphite pencil marks left by Von Eeden.

At the bottom right corner, this page is labelled as the fourth one in the story and was printed as such in the final product, but at the top right, it's noted as the 31st page in the comic itself, which wasn't part of the printed page. The artists' names are lightly written in pencil at the top of the board as well, as is a production note of "RED-SUR-PRINT" in black ballpoint pen. Also written in what appears to be a faded, black, thin-tip marker are labels to note the series and issue ("W. WAR 102") and the anticipated cover publication date ("AUG. J-1108"). And on the reverse of the page is something I always love to find on a piece of original published comic art: the company's copyright stamp.

This is far from a grail piece, and I think the bargain price for which I grabbed it was merited, given the obscurity of the original story and the lack of any established, permanent characters. Nevertheless, there are so many amazing details to be found here -- and not just in the pencil and inked art -- that I know it'll be a permanent addition to my collection of original art.

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About the Owner

	Don MacPherson
Joined:	September 2012
Last Login:	April 2021
Ebay Id:	comicbooksource
Website:	http://www.eyeoncomics.com
Country:	CANADA
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