McCorkindale, Bruce - Recreation of Johnny Craig's CrimeSuspenStories #22 cover!

“Here is your May issue. This seems to be a man with a bloody axe holding a woman’s head up, which has been severed from her body. Do you think that’s in good taste?” asked U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver.

“Yes, sir, I do…for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that blood could be seen dripping from it, and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody,” replied Gaines.

“You’ve got blood coming out of her mouth.”

“A little.”

This cover - iconic in its use to "bring down" the comic book industry, played such a significant role that Johnny Craig - the artist who originally drew the cover - decided he never wanted to revisit it in any of the recreations he did for fans or collectors, so mighty Bruce McCorkindale stepped in where others feared to tread!

Bruce remarked "This one has the two toughest challenges for re-creation (imo)...precise crosshatching and multitudinous curves and spirals (which are tough freehand and fuggedaboutit for re-creating!). I didn't realize it would be quite so involved, either. The trouble with crosshatching is that it's just tough, sometimes, to glean what goes where - it doesn't have to be exact, of course, but if the line weights and directions aren't right, then the lighting effects and modeling are thrown off. Craig was certainly a master at it - there are parts of it that remind me a bit of Brian Bolland at his most intense!"

Pen, brush and ink on 13 X 20" bristol board.