Since this week is a Holiday week, I thought I’d make it easy on myself and present a Fabulous Find that didn’t require a lot of writing on my part and I stumbled upon the perfect find while filing away something else entirely. It’s the 1981 Pretty Girl Sketchbook published, as a one-shot, from Paisley Publications. I don’t know anything at all about Paisley Publications and as far as I know this is the only thing I own from them. I do know it came out in 1981, or at least it’s copyrighted in 1981, as it says so on page one! The comic sized book presents twenty (20) pretty girl pin-ups by eighteen (18) artists.
The artists represented within the twenty-four (24) pages, in glorious black and white reproduction, are as follows: Dan Adkins, Terry Austin, John Beatty, Bill Black, Pat Broderick, John Byrne, Howard Chaykin, Dick Giordano, Mike Hernandez, GIl Kane, Bob McLeod, Frank Miller, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, Marshall Rogers, Joe Staton, Alex Toth and Mike Zeck. Some provided pencils and others provided the inks.
Now for the easy part, here’s the front cover, as drawn by Frank Miller, the inks were provided by Bill Black:
1981 Pretty Girl Sketchbook front cover
And now the back cover, pencils and inks by Bob McLeod:
1981 Pretty Girl Sketchbook back cover
Personally, I think McLeod’s Sheena of the Jungle back cover is a lot better than Frank Miller’s front cover. I’m not sure if Miller is drawing a known female comic book character, or just a generic girl holding a gun. I sure can’t identify her by his drawing. Anyone else? But obviously Miller is the “bigger name”, so he got the front cover assignment, or at least placement.
Some of the better, at least in my opinion, art from the interior of the book follows:
Page 5 drawn by Chaykin and Austin
Not bad, not bad, at all.
Page 6 drawn by Alex Toth
Page six, just might be the best art in the whole sketchbook, but again that’s just my opinion. Anybody else own this item? If you do, please share your opinion, as I’d love to hear which drawing you feel is the best. Next …
Page 9 drawn by Mike Hernandez
I’m not familiar with this artist, but he does a very nice job on his Sheena, doesn’t he?
Pages 12 & 13 by John Byrne
As you might be able to tell by the line/crease through this drawing, it serves as the centerfold of the book and is clearly Marvel Comics‘ Black Queen. Enjoy all you X-Men fans!
Page 15 by Marshall Rogers & Bill Black
Did Rogers forget to draw in Batman’s ears on his cowl? Or did Black try to change Batman to a generic costumed hero? I sure don’t know, but it looks like Rogers pencilled Batman and Silver St. Cloud to me, and then it was changed for some reason. Maybe so they didn’t have to credit DC Comics? Or maybe DC wouldn’t authorize Batman’s likeness? But did Marvel authorize the use of their characters? And Toth was definitely drawing DC’s Black Canary on page six, so what’s the deal? A mystery, at least to me.
And how about this drawing by by Terry Austin?
Page 21 by Terry Austin
Clearly it’s Wonder Woman, Black Canary and Supergirl, but again their costumes have been changed just a little bit, so I guess that would enable Paisley Publications to argue that they weren’t DC’s characters, if they were sued.
So was this worth the $1.75 I paid for it back in a981? I’d say yes. Is it worth the $80 to $100 dollars I’ve recently seen it for sale on eBay now-a-days? I’d say no, it’s not worth that kind of money. But it’s your money and you can spend it as you see fit, and you don’t have to check in with me before spending it. So go for it, if you’re so inclined.
Well, I did a little more writing than I had planned, but that’s okay, I enjoyed sharing this sketchbook from my collection with you. Hopefully you enjoyed it, as well. Any comments? Anyone out there?
Yeah, I know you’re there, even if you don’t comment, so please come back next week for a new RETRO REVIEW and again in two weeks for a new Fabulous Find. Be seeing you …
