franz marc and the fates of animals

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art, art criticism, art history, atomic bomb, Fates of Animals, Franz Marc, Gardner's Art Through the Ages

Many years ago, we first viewed Fate of the Animals without any context. You know what we thought? Damn! These animals are rocking out! Only later did we discover the angular, energetic rush of color and movement represented Franz Marc’s fear of the atomic bomb. He didn’t mean these animals rocked. He meant they got nuked!

Despite missing the point completely, we keep this in our Top Ten Paintings of All Time. That list also includes Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion, and… well, let’s just cover that some other day. For now, let’s see what our trusty art history book has to say about Franz Marc.

The Garden of Death!

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atomic bomb, golden age, Hiroshima, occult, Strange Tales, Vernon Henkel

The April 1954 issue of Strange Tales contains four illustrated shorts and one text piece. Early work by Joe Sinnot appears in The Cask in the Cave. Vernon Henkel provides the eerie artwork for the brief but dramatic Garden of Death! This tale, narrated by Death, scanned a bit better than the other tales. Let’s take a look!

Collector’s Guide: From Strange Tales #27; Marvel, 1954.

She’s Just the Girl Who Made Me a Man!

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atomic bomb, brian k vaughan, Eduardo Risso, Logan, Logan Black and White, Wolverine

Welcome to the Wolverine Gallery! It’s an ongoing project, so just click Wolverine Gallery to see everything in this virtual exhibition. Today’s Wolverine feature comes from a three-issue series by writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Saga, Runaways) and artist Eduardo Risso (Chicanos, 100 Bullets.) We’ve seen Wolverine blown to smithereens by the explosive Nitro, get eaten by the Hulk, and get his adamantium ripped out of his body by Magneto. Now, Wolverine takes the most brutal punishment ever — he gets nuked!

Vaughan sets the story in Japan in 1945. A super-scumbag just made a samurai shiskebab out of Wolverine’s girlfriend. The two begin to settle it as comic book heroes settle things: kicking the crap out of each other. But, they really picked a bad day to be duking it out: the day the atomic bomb dropped. Let’s have a look.

Collector’s Guide: From Logan Black and White #2; Marvel, 2008. The series was also printed in color as Logan #1-3.

Space Platforms – Way Stations of the Future!

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atomic bomb, giant ants, golden age, Lost Worlds, Space Platforms, space stations, Standard Comics

Here we see one of the absolute worst ideas of the 1950s. Maybe we can put huge mirrors in space to reflect the sun’s rays to the Arctic regions. WOW! As if the polar ice caps aren’t melting fast enough. At least we can get a great tan while dropping atomic bombs from space! Isn’t science great?

Collector’s Guide: From Lost Worlds #6. 1952, Standard Comics.

We’re including the cover here because of the completely awesome Giant Ants!

Atomic Follies!

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atomic bomb, Atomic Follies, Forbidden Knowledge, George Di Caprio, hibakusha, Hiroshima, Indie Comics, Last Gasp, Nagasaki, nuclear weapons, war, war comics

Collector’s Guide: “Atomic Follies” (c) 1977 by George Di Caprio and Von X – Warrena appeared in Forbidden Knowledge #2, 1978, Last Gasp. Copies of Forbidden Knowledge #1 & #2 are sometimes available from Last Gasp.