A bumper selection of random images.

 

The first two are from the 1968 Valiant Annual.

 

I think this 1950 french poster is telling you not to take your lottery winnings with you when you go diving. Good advice.

 

I believe these toys were given away a number of times over the years. This one is from the '50s.

 

From a 2068 issue of TV21, some Frank Bellamy underwater action.

 

From the '90s.

 

A NAUI publication from 1962.

 

This design sheet by Alex Toth is from the '70s cartoon series Sealab 2020. No, I've never seen it either.

 

Is it just me is there something slightly homo-erotic about this one?

 

And finally, a bit of Bond.

 

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

Sorry, that should be "Rex" Special!

Artist Gil Kane (real name Eli Katz, 1926-2000) had a career that spanned six decades. He worked on the revamped Green Lantern and Atom for DC in the 50s and 60s and later drew Spider-Man for Marvel. During the 70s he was Marvel's primary cover artist. However, I'm confident that he considered his seven year run on Rex the Wonder Dog to be the pinnacle of his career!

 

Rex, a former military dog, was owned by Major Dennis and his son Danny. In issue 27 from 1956 he was faced with the Mystery of the Midget Sub! And no, your eyes aren't decieving you, that really is scuba gear that Rex is using!

 

 Following a nuclear test, Major Dennis is checking the sea bed for signs of radiation. As you do. Danny and Rex become concerned when he doesn't surface as scheduled........

Danny and Rex follow a trail of pearls when suddenly the shadow of a giant ray falls across them......

Continuing to follow the pearls, our intrepid pair find a sunken ship. As they watch, a midget submarine leaves the wreck and proceeds to destroy it with a torpedo.....

Following the sub to the surface, Danny and Rex rescue Major Dennis from thieves who had sunk the ship so that they could retrieve the cargo of pearls later.

 

Two years later, in issue 42, Rex was involved in more aquatic adventures.........

 

This time he eschews the use of scuba gear to show off his extaordinary breath-holding abilities.

 

Danny is told that Bluebeard's treasure is somewhere nearby but he's more interested in finding specimens for his town's aquarium.....

 I'd love to know what Nora's tanks are made of that they can be "ripped" by coral! 

Nora agrees to help Danny and they go diving the following day but Rex is worried because he senses a storm coming. During one of their dives Rex spots trouble and gets to repeat his shark fighting trick.......

No sooner has Rex dealt with the octopus than the storm causes the cave to collapse, sealing the treasure inside. Fear not though because Danny and Nora escape thanks to Rex, the Wonder Dog!

Tags: The Art of Diving

I've been a bit busy lately and haven't had a chance to give the blog my full attention but will hopefully be back to normal soon. In the meantime, why not relax and have a refreshing glass of pop (other soft drinks are available).

Artwork by Bob Peak, 1964.

Tags: The Art of Diving

In my recent blog entry The Art of Diving Goes to the Movies, I pointed out the similarity between Bill Baker's cover for Collier's magazine and one of the posters for the film Underwater! It turns out that in 1969, Vic Prezio was similarly inspired when producing this cover for Eerie magazine.

 

In February I featured a piece by A Fedin that was used in the Golden Treasury of Knowledge published in 1960. The same piece was used on the cover of the French magazine Tout l'Univers in April 1963.

 

In one of my earliest blogs I featured George Wilson's cover to Grimm's Ghost Stories #15 from 1974. Here's the story behind the cover, Treachery Below! Artwork is by Frank Bolle.

Our story opens with underwater salvage expert Mitch Marino, with his rookie assistant Steve, searching for a wreck belonging to millionaire T.D. Granson and his business partner Jacob Moore.

Writing off the ghost as the effects of nitrogen narcosis, Mitch returns to the wreck.....

Mitch tries desperately to escape from the cabin but to no avail.....

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

Another collection of gags from the good folk at Archie Comics.

 

1964. Artist unknown.

 

1971. Not signed but almost certainly Dan DeCarlo. I'm not surprised Betty's fin-socks never caught on!

 

1981. Drawn by Stan Goldberg.

 

1986. Dan DeCarlo.

 

1989. Dan & Jim DeCarlo. Archie better watch out or Betty and Veronica will be out for his blood!

 

1993. Dan DeCarlo & Alison Flood. Lines on paper, it's just lines on paper..........

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

I've always been a sucker for an octopus! Following the recent Man vs Shark entry, The Art of Diving proudly presents a crazy collection of cephalopod carnage!

 

First up is an issue of "Men" from 1953 (Sadly I only have the cover so I can't bring you that 25 point checklist).

 

Octopuses are notoriously camera shy as this cover shows. "Men" was published by a company called Atlas that eventually became Marvel Comics. I don't have a date for this one but, thanks to the Today's Inspiration blog, I can tell you that this cover is by Frank Soltesz.

 

Jumping back a few years to 1928 we have this issue of Science and Invention. Frankly, I'm not quite sure exactly what's going on in this picture but it features a wonderfully pop-eyed octopus and that's good enough for me.

 

The next cover is from a book originally published in 1942. This paperback cover dates from 1954 and is by John Floherty Jr who was a combat artist at Iwo Jima and Okinawa during World War II.

 

Our old friends the Sea Devils were still going strong in 1965 when they ran into this fella at, I'm guessing, forty fathoms. Art by Howard Purcell.

 

In 1984 the Fantastic Four featured in a story book called "Island of Danger". The illustrations were painted by Earl Norem, based on drawings by Marvel veteran Marie Severin.

The Art of Diving requests that its readers please refrain from tying Octopuses' tentacles in knots. Your co-operation is appreciated.

 

To finish, here's an installment of "Lucky Dicky Dolphin". Unfortunately I don't have any details to hand but it's from a '50s DC Thomson comic. I've ruled out the Beano, Dandy and Beezer and it could well be from the Topper but I can't confirm it at the moment. I'm presenting it as individual panels for ease of reading.

Hope you enjoyed the bonus Giant Clam action as well!

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

A bumper edition of The Art of Diving this week, taking a look at some artwork for various diving related films.

 

Cousteau wasn't the only one filming in the Red Sea in the early fifties, Hans and lottie Hass were at it too.

 

"Manfish" was a 1955 tale of murder and hidden treasure based on two stories by Edgar Allan Poe. It was released in the UK as "Calypso".

 

I featured one of the many "Thunderball" posters in an earlier blog but here's a closer look at Frank McCarthy's painting for the "Look Down!" section of that poster.....

.... and here's a concept piece for the underwater battle sequence. For some international posters, elements of both these pieces were combined to make one image.

 

The underwater filming for "Thunderball" was handled by Ivan Tors, the man behind TV series such as Daktari, Flipper and Cowboy in Africa. In 1966 he produced "Around the World Under the Sea" which had a poster by....... Frank McCarthy. It's a small world!

 

It wasn't unusual for a film to have several poster designs and the 1955 Jane Russell film "Underwater!" (a tale of sunken treasure - what else?! - and modern-day pirates) was no exception. The first example is perhaps slightly unusual because the star's features are obscured by scuba gear. This wasn't repeated in the other designs.

The elements in the second example would be moved around as required. These next two pictures illustrate that with the second showing an actual billboard display in New York in 1955.

I've seen Ren Wicks credited as the artist for these posters but over at the Today's Inspiration blog (http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.co.uk/), Leif Peng points out the similarities between an ad from a February '55 issue of Colliers magazine and a Bill Baker cover from an August '54 edition of the same magazine. Both the basic pose and the lighting on the main figure are surely too close to be a coincidence. Was Mr Wicks guilty of swiping from Mr Baker?

The Art of Diving will return.

Tags: The Art of Diving

When I'm teaching I always tell my students that a knife is vital in case of a shark attack - you can stab your buddy and swim away!

This cover from 1955 reminds me of that joke.

 

Now well known for his American history pieces, Mort Künstler previously worked on film posters, Mad magazine, Aurora model kits and magazines for the discerning male reader. Here's the chance to see the original of one of his covers plus how it appeared on the magazine racks in 1956.

 

1959. Sadly it seems none of their "amazing undersea adventure photos" was good enough to go on the cover. Never mind, we get this smashing artwork instead.

 

1958. Still trying to work out which of the cover captions this illustration ties in with. Perhaps the shark is Irish and the divers are Canadian?

 

1955. I believe the following month this magazine was renamed "Shark's Conquest".

 

Not diving as such but how could I leave out this fabulous L B Cole cover from 1949?! (Not quite sure where the gangsters fit in. Or the guns.)

 

*The Art of Diving would like to make it clear that it in no way endorses fighting with sharks, whether that be with knives, spearguns or bare hands.

Tags: The Art of Diving

Preparing this blog entry reminded me of a girl I used to fancy. I tried impressing her with my stamp collection but it didn't do me any good. She said to me, "Philately will get you nowhere!"

 

Bulgaria 1973.

 

France 1971.

 

USA 1994.

 

Grenada 1976.

 

Malta 1998.

 

More stamps in a future blog. I'll keep you posted.

Tags: The Art of Diving

No theme to this week's entry, just some random images.

 

Doctor Octopus dons scuba gear to take on Spider-Man in a tank of water. From the Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, 1964. Drawn by the legendary Steve Ditko.

 

Did anyone play this computer game back in'83? Look at those state of the art graphics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why don't you see purple wetsuits these days?! Sea Devils #23, 1965. Art by Howard Purcell.

 

 

This image is from The Golden Treasury of Knowledge, 1960. Painted by A Fedin. With thanks to the Today's Inspiration blog.

 

 

In this TV Express page from 1961 we see flying ace Biggles in a less familiar environment. Art by British comics stalwart Mike Western.

 

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

Today's entry features a selection of covers from Popular Mechanics and Popular Science.

 

1928. I can only imagine that in 1928 the market for dive gear aimed at siamese twins was a bit bigger than today!

 

1933. "I told you we should have bought a lifting bag Harry!"

 

1951. Looks like these guys are wearing the three cylinder system used by Cousteau. I think Jacques missed a trick by not wearing a fetching blue or green wetsuit!

 

1952. I want one!

 

1953. Hmm, I might have to track down a copy of this one. With the price of dive gear the DIY option seems quite attractive.

 

1954. I wonder how many readers survived to try building an advanced diving outfit!

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

I've featured Archie and the gang in a few earlier blogs and here are a few more examples.

This cover from 1988 centres once again on the eternal triangle of Archie, Betty and Veronica. Art by Dan DeCarlo.

 

This 1991 cover by Rex Lindsey shows Betty and Veronica ready for some underwater action, although I assume Veronica will be swapping her heels for fins! Perhaps she'd be happy with the high-heel fins Fraser featured in the forum. http://www.londonscuba.org.uk/forum/13-humour/47-new-accessory-for-lady-divers-and-simon

 

This issue of PEP from 1967 features the two-panel gag cover often used by Archie Comics. Not sure of the artist but quite possibly Dan DeCarlo.

 

I featured some of this 1962 issue of Life with Archie a couple of entries back. Art is by Bob White.

 

Archie has a close encounter with a shark....

.......before he and Reggie find a wreck. Although this is the same scene featured on the cover, Jughead being trapped inside isn't part of the story.

Instead, the boys have a strange adventure in the hidden city of Neptunia. As you do.

Tags: The Art of Diving

 

The first two pages in this entry come from Showcase 27 published in 1960. This was the issue that introduced the Sea Devils to DC's line-up characters. I'll be looking at the aquatic adventurers in a future blog but meanwhile here's a little introduction to diving drawn by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

Hmmm, not sure about that hand signal for a shark.

 

Archie has featured in a couple of earlier entries and in 1962, issue 16 of Life With Archie featured an issue-length story based around diving. I'm sure I'll return to that another time but for now here's Mister Lodge explaining about diving to Betty and Veronica. Artwork by Bob White.

Tut tut Mr Lodge. Oxygen? I think you mean air. The end of the story also featured this little nugget of information.

Who says comics aren't educational?

Tags: The Art of Diving

after these important messages.....

(1960)

 

(!964) Sorry girls, it's the man's mixer!

 

(Unknown but probably circa 1968)

 

(1968) Please remember, don't drink and dive!

Tags: The Art of Diving

This entry looks at the work of Ley Kenyon whose work illustrating a series of Brooke Bond cards featured in an earlier Art of Diving entry.

http://www.londonscuba.org.uk/Blog/Entry/the-art-of-diving-not-everyones-cup-of-tea

A war hero, Ley Kenyon was one of the prisoners in the infamous Stalag Luft III and was part of the events dramatised in The Great Escape. His artistic skills saw him working as one of the camp forgers producing fake documents. In the absence of any cameras, he also prduced six drawing that documented the tunnels. One website claims that the work damaged his eyesight and he wasn't allowed to be one of the escapees, while another says that it was simply that the tunnel was discovered before he could escape. I haven't been able to confirm which is correct but whatever did prevent him escaping almost certainly saved his life.

 

 

After the war, in addition to being an artist and author, Kenyon was himself a diver who worked with Cousteau in the 1950s. He wrote and illustrated a number of books including Aqualung Diving (with Werner de Haas, 1956), Collins' Pocket Guide to the Undersea World (1956) and Discovering the Undersea World (1961). His work also graced the covers of other authors' books, including diving pioneer Hans Hass. The cover of Pierre de Latill and Jean Rivoire's Man and the Underwater World features artwork by Kenyon and he is also the diver pictured.

 

 

 

 

In 1956, the News of the World launched a new comic for boys called Rocket, the Space-Age Weekly. The editorial gave a brief introduction to Kenyon who wrote and drew the adventures of Professor Jack Ransom in full colour on the back page.

 

The Seabed Citadel introduced us to the professor and his rather impractical looking diving suit. Like many comic-strip adults, he had no hesitation involving children in his adventures, in this case his nephews Tom and Jeff.

 

Exploring various wrecks, the intrepid trio have a nasty encounter with some Japanese Crabs

before following a strange glow which leads them to - can you guess? - yes that's right, a seabed citadel. In one panel Jeff imparts a little snippet of information about Scorpion Fish

but Kenyon soon abandons any pretence of scientific accuracy when they are attacked by "man-eating" Mantas (or Mantuas as he calls them).

 

Issue 25 saw the start of a new adventure with rather more practical diving gear but Rocket was cancelled a few weeks later with number 32 being the final issue. The story was cut short and a panel of text told the reader what would have happened.

 Ley Kenyon passed away in 1991.

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

All the artwork in this entry is by Keith Watson who sadly passed away in 1994 aged only 59. He's most famous for his work on Dan Dare in the Eagle, originally as part of creator Frank Hampson's studio in the fifties and then in the mid-sixties as the sole artist. He returned to the character for the eighties revival of the Eagle.

 

This first piece is from the first issue of the short-lived Joe 90 comic from January 1969. Despite only being old enough for Bubblemaker and SEAL Team, Joe uses the brain patterns of a top navy Aquanaut to foil the Russians and recover some missiles.

 

The next example is from a 1973 issue of The Topper. The Sky Shark is a flying submarine invented by Professor Thatcher who, somewhat irresponsibly perhaps, uses his niece and nephew, Jill and John, as crew. Here we see them protecting a nuclear submarine base from some mystery frogmen.

 

Finally, here's a complete story from the 1971 Daily Mirror Book for Boys.

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

I'll admit it, the main reason I'm using the images in this post is that one of them is from a Christmas issue.

Like many men of a certain age, my life is still tinged with the disappointment of not having my own personal jet pack or flying car, despite constantly being told as a youngster that we'd have them, probably by the year 2000. The source of this disappointment was comics such as Valiant that liked to predict the future world we'd be living in. Here's a selection of aquatic predictions from 1966/67. All artwork by the late, great Mike Western.

 

 

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

There's no real theme to this entry, just some nice artwork. The illustrations below all came from American magazines. I found them on Leif Peng's wonderful blog, Today's Inspiration and he kindly allowed me to share them here.

http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/

If you're interested in this sort vintage commercial art I suggest you check it out.

 

The first image is an ad for the Continental Oil Company and was painted by C.E. Monroe.

 

The next image is an ad for Pepsi Cola from Look magazine, part of a long-running series featuring "The Sociables"

 

 

A complete change of style for the next piece by Frank Lacano from a 1971 science booklet.

 

Finally, a marvelous story illustration from a 1960s Collier's magazine by James Bingham.

 

Tags: The Art of Diving

The first comic I got regularly was TV Century 21 in the late 60s, which was devoted to the worlds of Gerry Anderson. By 1970 the last of the Anderson material was gone and New Series No 39 saw a minor relaunch. Cover featured that issue was a new series called S.N.O.R.K.E.L.

(Cover art by Alan Willow. Unfortunately I don't know the identity of the artist on the strip itself.)

 

The main character was playboy diving instructor Johnnie Webb (Why don't we have any playboy instructors at London Scuba?).

 

After a row with his boss Johnnie is attacked by a mystery diver (don't you hate it when that happens?)

 

It transpires the attack was part of the recruitment process for an organisation called S.N.O.R.K.E.L. (The system here at London Scuba is much the same). Pardon? You want to know what S.N.O.R.K.E.L. stands for? I'm glad you asked. Over to Professor Wilmslow.......

 

Johnnie is then introduced to the organisation's tame Crown of Thorns starfish, Seastar One (No, I'm not making this up). The artist's depiction is like no Crown of Thorns I've ever seen but they do give the correct scientific name of Acanthaster Planci (Who says comics aren't educational?)

(I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that Johnnie survived the attack.)

We'll return to Johnnie's adventures in a future blog. Maybe.

 

*If you can't work out what T.A.O.D. stands for then you really haven't been paying attention!

Tags: The Art of Diving