Long before Andrew Stanton got the green light to make John Carter (of Mars) for Disney, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars was included in Mars and Beyond, aired as a Tomorrow Land episode of Disneyland on December 4, 1957.
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19
Jan 2012
A Princess of Mars Cover
by Frank E. Schoonover
One of the classic editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars is the first printing, published by A.C. McClurg & Co. in 1917. Frank E. Schoonover, a top illustrator of the day, painted the cover and interior plates. Schoonover was a student of the master Howard Pyle, as was NC Wyeth, and there are definite similarities between the artists.
08
Jan 2012
John Carter of Mars Covers
by Gino D’Achille
As I have said elsewhere, my first encounter with Edgar Rice Burroughs was in the elementary school library in 1974. I was nine and I saw The Chessmen of Mars with a cover painted in 1973 by Gino D’Achille.
04
Jan 2012
Tarzan Covers by Neal Adams
I have to credit Neal Adams for getting me to read my first Edgar Rice Burroughs’ book – Tarzan of the Apes – in 1977.
Having read his DC Comics work, Neal Adams was the epitomy of what comics could be to a 12-year-old boy. That he did some of his best painting work on these covers for Ballantine in 1976 is what drew me to buy the book.
28
Dec 2011
John Carter of Mars Covers
by Michael Whelan
In 1979, Del Rey/Ballantine Books commissioned Michael Whelan to paint new covers for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars novels, succeeding Gino D’Achille‘s 1973 series.
20
Dec 2011
The New CatspawDynamics.com
Welcome to the completely redesigned Catspaw Dynamics.
After a number of years where my work and interests were divided among various websites, it was time to streamline and focus my online presence. Whether you’re interested in my design services or if you’ve read my comics, you’ll find everything here on this site.
12
Sep 2011
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
I’m just old enough to remember the last of the Moon landings in the early 70s. It seemed normal, like it was what people did. But the Moon missions were soon cancelled, and we haven’t seen a person walking on another planet since. We had to satisfy ourselves with robotic probes like Viking’s mission to Mars. And then the shuttle came, but it never got out of orbit.
It was a much different world than the one that had launched the space race nearly two decades before. Instead of the world feeling larger, full of possibilities, it seemed like we had reached for the stars, found the Sun like Prometheus, and fell back aflame.
25
Oct 2010
Puss in Boots by Gordon Robinson
Puss in Boots was always one of my favourite childhood stories. It had a smart cat. In boots. Long before Antonio Banderas did a pretty decent update in the Shrek films.
I found this in a used book store a few years back. It’s from 1911 with illustrations by Gordon Robinson. Printed on linen. Very nicely done.
30
Apr 2010
Don’t You Have to Be in the Room
to Take My Pulse?
I had thought about getting a digital photo frame, but had been kind of on the fence because I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of plugging it into the computer or sticking a flash drive into it to upload photos to it.
So when Kodak recently released the Pulse digital frame with WiFi I thought that was pretty cool. It’s about the same price as other good quality frames and I picked one up. The image quality and feature set are good. The software is intuitive. It looks nice and I had visions of putting it in the living room while sending photos to it from the office/studio a couple of walls away.
27
Mar 2010
Perfection Ain’t Perfect
(or The Scourge of Hyphens)
I was in the Sony Store in the mall, looking for replacement rubber tips for my in-ear headphones. While the guy went in the back to retrieve this low-demand, low-cost-but-easy-to-steal item, I watched a bit of Iron Man in high-def Blu-Ray on a big Bravia.