A James Bond Bait and Switch

I remember seeing this issue of The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu back in 1975 sitting on a shelf among lurid detective magazines and other black and white comics like Creepy and Eerie at Davis Drug in Westville, NJ. I was never a fan of Marvel’s line of martial arts comics designed to cash in on the kung fu craze running riot on the screens of every inner city grindhouse at the time. I was curious about the addition of Roger Moore’s James Bond to the festivities, but not curious enough to part with 75¢. Three quarters of a dollar equalled three regular comic books at the time, and they were in color! I didn’t flip through the Kung Fu book because it was in dangerous proximity to the detective and chopper magazines featuring semi-nude women on their covers. I didn’t want the lady at the cash register thinking I was a pervert. I bought my regular comics from the spinner rack and left.

So for 48 years, I harbored the belief that Marvel Comics had licensed the Roger Moore version of 007 and put the character in their black and white line of comic magazines. Continue reading

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There’s No Escape from a DEADLINE!


Back in the late 1990s I was exploring the illustrative possibilities of my newly purchased Power Mac 7300. I put a lot of time and effort chasing down what meager information I could via a dial-up modem; picking the brains of the technicians at the service bureau where I worked at the time, and a lot of trial and error. I was obsessed with the possibilities of marrying hand drawn art with digital colors and vector elements. My efforts were not a pursuit unique to me — other illustrators were busily developing digital approaches to their art. I was trying to build my own set of skills using every program I had including Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress and CorelDraw which I had on an old PC.

I also wanted to make a comic with panels and word balloons which I had only previously made half-hearted attempts. My work was usually spot illustrations that accompanied an article or editorial in newspapers. Words and pictures that told a story is something I really wanted to try! Continue reading

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Fresh Fig Ricotta Cake

I spotted these gorgeous purple figs in the market, so I grabbed them to make this fig ricotta cake for a friend’s birthday. Figs have a short growing season, so if you’re interested in making this cake – hop to it! Continue reading

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Malamute at the Market

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Caturday

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Friday Five – Number One Hundred Sixty Three

One hundred sixty third in a continued series creating a collage using five elements.

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Visual Metaphor – Everything Everywhere All at Once

This is another in a series of visual metaphors that I provide as a learning tool for executive coaches in order to develop their clients’ leadership skills. This visual metaphor is a three panel, sequential cartoon that illustrates this client’s current career state, a transitional state and a successful final state that sees the individual flourish in the company. Below is this woman’s description of her particular leadership challenges from which I derive my illustrations: Continue reading

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French Strawberry Cake

I bought some beautiful baskets of strawberries in the market over the weekend, a cake was in order. This is a wonderful cake – light, studded with strawberries, and flavored with orange zest. It’s perfect for serving after a big meal, or with a mug of coffee with breakfast! Continue reading

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