Around 1981, Steve

Mark... the truth is that Al did a Modesty Blaise Sunday on spec.  That was the one that never was!

Me too, Lance.  This is very different from some other Krenkel drawings with exaggerated anatomy.  I think the work of Norman Lindsay inspired him here.  Very flowing.  Sadly, the reason it is in the flat file and not framed is that there is no bottom margin to work with and if it was "floated" emphasize miscut the paper was.  

Good point, Jon.  Crandall had a hard time finding work in the 60s and AL told Reed he could stay with him in PA.  Al was a truly human human being.  You might recall that Al recommended Reed to do Flash Gordon after he became committed to Secret Agent.  I do believe that this was done while they were living together.

Thanks, Mitch.  Always good to hear where things come from.  I am guessing that this was done when Crandall lived with Williamson in the 60s.

How did I ever miss this??  It is a beauty, Frank, and truly a museum piece.

That is correct, Ruben.  He plans to do a story answering the question, Whatever Happened to Somerset and include it in a collection of all six stories shot from original art... an Artists Edition.  I can't wait!

Ruben... I am pretty certain I never said you owned this piece.  Were you sure you were referring to me>

Ray... what evidence do you have of that?

Actually, while the original owner is old, he is still alive.  I asked the question about photocopies.  He bought this story years ago for $15... that is basically $2 a page.  He felt that he would have had to pay close to that much to have good, full-sized photocopies made when he did this.  A poor excuse... but that is what he said.

I agree completely, Jeff.  His work on Tarzan and Korak was far superior to the work on Star Wars!

Ruben...  I agree completely.  This book was well-written and engaging.  It is also one of my favorites, as well.

I agree, Satya.  I believe that Raymond intentionally tried new things several times a year including inks and panel design.  Great classic stuff.

Rosenberger is another one of the lost and forgotten masters of comics... He worked at ACG doing mystery jobs, went to Archie to draw the Fly and Jaguar, and moved to DC to do primarily romance comics.  He drew a beautiful Supergirl story (Brave and Bold 63 - does the art for that story exist??) then was assigned to draw Lois Lane and Wonder Woman until he died... far too early.  To my mind, he mostly worked for off-brand titles on lesser features... but he always did great work.  I remember this splash page distinctly.  Great stuff, there.

Miki...  as I understand it, Jordan's feature Jeff Hawke ran in the Daily Express until it was canceled on 18 April 1974 after almost 20 years.  He continued to produce stories (Brian Bolland was an assistant) and then tried to revamp the character by publishing a similar strip called Lance McLane in the Scottish newspaper Daily Record.  When this didn't catch on, Jordan came up with the idea that McLane somehow transformed himself into Hawke.

Really nice  I love Mortimer Superman.  You shouldn't have waited for 26 years to post this!

All-Star 64 had a cover date of February 1977.

Obviously, we both have good taste... and bad judgment.  Never let the true gems out of your hands.

Thanks, Mark... I agree completely.

The paper is in excellent condition. Pristine, compared to other Fiction House pages I own.  In fact, I have two other pages from this story (one in this gallery) and the paper is nowhere near as nice.  I will say that the Logo is a replacement.

Indeed... And it took 15 years for a second comment.

It was, indeed, Ray.  Made its way to Italy, if I recall, but my memory is a sieve anymore.

Well...  he didn't give me a chance to make an offer; he just said it was not for sale.  And since this transpired over a weekend, not sure he had (or was aware) of an unforeseen bill.  Could be he saw something he wanted.  Regardless, I didn't get a chance to buy it.

I have always liked the ones from 1956... one of his best periods.

Always nice to see a Comet... and Raven.  These seem rarer and rarer on CAF.

Thanks Jason...  I posted this to CAF in 2004, and in those 16 years, there were only 4 comments before the 4 posted today.  I always thought that weird.

Thanks, Mark, but not all that early; this was done after Al left EC.

That is the stuff a 13-year-old's dreams are made of!  (At least mine...) Very nice.

I think you (and Jeff) are correct when you note that Al was trying to stay in Lubber's style for at least the first story arc... and that may have been a King Features directive.  When someone has drawn a strip for years, the syndicate probably did not want a radical change in style that scared away the readers.  They tried to mimic the way it had gone before.  Certainly, John Prentice tried to mimic Raymond when he took over Rip Kirby, and John Cullen Murphy stayed as close as he could to Foster when he took over Prince Valiant.  Even Dan Barry mimiced Wilson McCoy's style on the Phantom before all of them slowly established their own styles.

You cannot do better than McWilliam's airplanes... well maybe George Evans.  But this is outstanding action and detail

Actually.... more Eisner-inspired than Toth according to Mike way back when.