Gold
and dreams of unbounded wealth being ever constant with me, I chose,
without much
responsible argument, to produce a cover that was simply typographical
(actually Hand Lettered, an art which was once all but lost and is now
gaining new ground in the genius hands of such as Michael Doret and Tom
Camasie) and gold embossed to boot, which I gladly thought to be in direct
contrast to other comic art "sketchbooks" like Kirby Unleashed,
Gray Morrow's Dark Domain and The Art of Neal Adams. The cover was printed
by hand and cut that way too (when was the last time you saw an overhang
on a commercial book or magazine?) And although there was doubt present,
fearing that if the cover didn't depict Conan battling Supergirl with
Spiderman and Stan Lee as mediators it wouldn't sell, it proved yet another
remarkable success. If you're interested, although I designed the title
lettering, it was Linda's deft and graceful hand that finished and fully
realized the cover lettering. The article in the back was written by
our good friend Lewis Shiner. Hastily composed, as I recall we gave him
all of three minutes and twenty five seconds to write, type and mail
it to us.
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This
may seem like a peculiar digression .... however; we had been seeing
a lot of our
accountant during the late summer of ' 75 due to
our wanton
indifference
to reality, to wit: our taxes hadn't been paid in two years. There were
reports from confidantes of groans issuing from his office whilst undertaking
the
straightening of GbP accounts. As we liked the man (as one does those
who look after our
well being—doctors, lawyers, friendly policemen etc,—) we
thought to cheer him with a gift. As The Devil's Lake had just arrived
here at GbP, and we were impressed with it (though the blue seemed awfully
radical, at the time, as I'd never done a blue picture before ) we decided
to give him a copy of it. I thought to myself that it would also eradicate
another problem—that of his white and desperately naked walls,
which I always find offensive.
During the next visit,
finding the opportune moment to present him with the gift, and with smiles
and hopes of immediate acceptance taking me,
I unrolled and placed before him our present. He took it up, peered deeply
into it from three inches, squinted at me from over the top and said "Haven't
you got anything more cheerful to show me?!" |