The Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole - Hardcover

Cole, Jack

4.18

45 ratings by Goodreads

9781560975595: The Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1560975598 ISBN 13: 9781560975595

Publisher: Fantagraphics, 2004

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A collection of the rare '50s pinups that led to the artist's final gig, as Playboy's first star cartoonist. In the rarefied realm of classic cartoon pin-up art, nobody did it better than Jack Cole. With his quirky line drawings and sensual watercolors, Cole, under Hugh Hefner's guiding hand, catapulted to stardom in the 1950s as Playboy's marquee cartoonist, a position he held until his untimely death at the age of 43. Jack Cole, most recently the subject of a book profile by Art Spiegelman and Chip Kidd (Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched To Their Limits) has been justly celebrated as the creator of Plastic Man and an innovative comic book artist of the 1940s. Cole had sold a handful of cartoons to magazines such as Boy's Life, Colliers and Judge in the '30s and '40s, but after finishing his 14-year run on Plastic Man, he found himself back at square one in an idiom that didn't come naturally to him: the gag cartoon. According to Cole, his savior was the Humorama line of down-market digest magazines. This girls and gags magazine circuit proved to be the perfect training ground to regain his footing and develop his craft at single panel cartoons. While Cole may have been honing his skills as a gag writer, his ability to render the female form was already without peer. Though he signed his cartoons "Jake," Cole's exquisite line drawings and masterful use of ink-washa skill he carried over Playboy betrayed his pseudonym. In comparison to his contemporaries, however, Cole was probably Humorama's least prolific artist. Though his images were frequently used for covers, Cole's cartoons were few and far between, with scarcely a single drawing appearing every five issues. Along with a foreword by Warner Brothers Animation designer Shane Glines, this volume collects the best of these hidden gems, including several shot from Cole's stunning original art. Most of these drawings have not seen print in more than 50 years; taken together, they provide a rare glimpse into the singular artistry of Jack Cole.

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About the Author:

Jack Cole was born in 1914 and died in 1958.

Alex Chun is a longtime journalist living in Los Angeles. A former staff writer for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, he is currently a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times where he covers pop-culture. He also edits a series of art books for Fantagraphics. In his spare time, he collects original cartoon pin-up art and maintains the website www.pinupcartoongallery.com. His books include The Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo (two volumes), The Pin-Up Art of Bill Wenzel, The Pin-up Art of Bill Ward, The Glamor Girls of Don Flowers, The Glamour Girls of Bill Ward, Classic Pin-Up Art of Jack Cole, and The Pin-Up Art of Humorama.

Review:

“Classic pin-ups from a giant of the comics field.... Jack Cole was a masterful comic book artist who helped define the golden age of his art form.”
- The Village Voice

“The 100 pages’ worth of cartoons of comely, curvy cuties come culled from low-rent men’s digest magazines of the 1940s and 1950s ― now-forgotten rags with happy-go-lucky names like Romp, Joker and Laugh Riot. But Cole’s contributions are visually indelible.”
- Rod Lott, Bookgasm

“The top pin-up cartoonist of his generation.”
- Forum

“A saucy joy.”
- The List

“Cole was a leading figure of mid-20th-century popular culture.”
- Terry England

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