American artist
Ralph Reese
|
---|
Born
| (
1949-05-19
)
May 19, 1949
(age 75)
New York City, US
|
---|
Area(s)
| Artist,
Inker
|
---|
Awards
| Shazam Award
, 1973, 1974
|
---|
Ralph Reese
(born May 19, 1949) is an American artist who has illustrated for books, magazines, trading cards,
comic books
and
comic strips
, including a year drawing the
Flash Gordon
strip for
King Features
. Prolific from the 1960s to the 1990s, he is best known for his collaboration with
Byron Preiss
on the continuing feature "One Year Affair", serialized in the
satiric
magazine
National Lampoon
from 1973 to 1975 and then collected into a 1976 book.
Reese early in his career worked in the studio of
Wally Wood
, assisting on both mainstream and alternative-press comics and on trading cards. He went on to do mainly
fantasy
and
horror
illustrations for
science-fiction
magazines and black-and-white horror-comics magazines. He drew many fantasy, horror and science-fiction stories for
Marvel Comics
,
DC Comics
and
Valiant Comics
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Born in
New York City
, Reese attended New York's
High School of Art and Design
. He was in the same graduating class as
Larry Hama
and
Frank Brunner
.
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
Early career
[
edit
]
While still an art student in 1966, Reese began his career at age 16 as an assistant to artist
Wally Wood
,
[2]
who became a dominant influence on Reese's art.
Wally Wood studio
[
edit
]
Reese contributed to various Wood projects, including
Topps
trading cards
,
DC Comics
stories and Wood's
independent comics
. His first confirmed comics work is an illustration for a one-page text story, "...And Thereby Hangs A Tale...", in
witzend
#1 (Summer 1966). His first comics story was co-
penciling
and co-
inking
with Wood a 10-page
science-fiction
in
Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon
(1969).
[3]
In 2001, Reese recalled his duties at the Wood's studio:
After a while, I got to keeping his files in order. His file was astounding! He must have had 30 file drawers of clippings, and I kept them in order. I also kept the place in order. When I first met Wally he had been working in the same room for 12 years, so there was a lot of clutter. The first time I saw his studio I couldn't figure out what was hanging from the ceiling. There were all these things with grey felt on them. They turned out to be hundreds of model airplanes on strings, covered with dust.
[4]
With the Wood Studio as a launching pad, Reese became a prolific freelancer. In 1969, he did a cover and numerous interior illustrations for
Galaxy Science Fiction
. For Robert Sproul's Major Publications, he was a regular 1969-70 contributor to
Web of Horror
, edited by
Terry Bisson
. His first confirmed solo comics story credit is as penciler-inker of Bisson's four-page story "The Skin-Eaters' in
Major Publications
'
Web of Horror
#1 (Dec. 1969).
[3]
He illustrated two
Otto Binder
stories in
Web of Horror
#2 (Feb. & April 1970).
[3]
Comics and commercial illustration
[
edit
]
During the 1970s, Reese's artwork surfaced in a wide variety of publications, from
underground comics
to slick
magazines
, including
National Lampoon
[5]
and
Esquire
.
[2]
He sometimes collaborated with
Larry Hama
. In
Comics Interview
#37 (1986), Hama recalled working with Reese and Wood:
I guess in 1971 or thereabouts, I was living in Brooklyn and working with Ralph Reese, freelance stuff. I was penciling, and he was inking. We were doing a lot of jobs for
National Lampoon
. At the time, Woody was moving to Brooklyn, six to eight blocks from where I lived. In the process of helping him move, he said, "Hey, are you interested in a semi-regular job?" I said sure.
[6]
Reese worked from 1972 to 1977 at
Neal Adams
'
Continuity Associates
studio at 9 East 48th Street in
Manhattan
.
[2]
There he became acquainted with a group of freelance artists that included
Jack Abel
,
Sergio Aragones
,
Dick Giordano
,
Russ Heath
,
Bob McLeod
,
Marshall Rogers
,
Joe Rubinstein
and
Lynn Varley
. At Continuity, Reese and Hama sometimes worked as a team, and they created illustrations for a variety of clients, including the
Children's Television Workshop
.
[2]
Reese's comic book credits include pages for
Acclaim
,
Byron Preiss
,
Eclipse Comics
,
Marvel Comics
,
Skywald Publications
and
Warren Publishing
.
[2]
While working in the mainstream, he also contributed to underground titles, including
Conspiracy Capers
,
[7]
Drool
,
[8]
and editor
Jay Lynch
's
Kitchen Sink Press
comic
Bijou Funnies
.
[3]
His work for DC Comics included stories for
House of Mystery
,
House of Secrets
,
The Witching Hour
and
The Unexpected
.
[3]
In 1973, Reese illustrated
Thomas Disch
's "The Roaches" for the black-and-white
horror-comics
magazine
Monsters Unleashed
, published by Marvel's
Curtis Magazines
imprint
, and the following year, he continued in a similar vein with art for
Gerry Conway
's story, "The Rats" in
Haunt of Horror
. With these two stories, featuring extreme close-up drawings of roaches and rats, Reese depicted horror lurking in real-life vermin, and both stories had several reprints.
After he collaborated with Byron Preiss on the feature "One Year Affair" in the
National Lampoon
, the two did installments of a follow-up, "Two Year Affair".
[5]
For
Atlas/Seaboard Comics
he drew "Midnight Muse" in
Devilina
#1 (January 1975). In 1982, Reese teamed with
Al Williamson
,
Dan Green
and Carlos Garzon on a comics adaptation of the
movie
Blade Runner
.
[2]
In 1985, Reese horror stories were reprinted in the two issues of
Reese's Pieces
(Eclipse). Also during the 1980s, Reese illustrated more than a dozen titles in
Bantam Books
'
Choose Your Own Adventure
series.
[2]
[9]
In 1989 and 1990, he drew both the
daily
and
Sunday strips
of
King Features
'
Flash Gordon
, scripted by
Bruce Jones
.
[2]
From 1992 to 1997, he did much work for the comic book
Magnus Robot Fighter
and other
Valiant Comics
series, including
Raj
and
X-O Manowar
.
[10]
Also in the 1990s, he contributed to several
Paradox Press
titles:
The Big Book of Hoaxes
,
The Big Book of Freaks
,
The Big Book of Losers
and
The Big Book of Little Criminals
.
In 2009, Reese returned to DC with "The Thirteenth Hour" in issue #13 (July 2009) of editor Angela Rufino's
House of Mystery
revival for
Vertigo
.
[3]
In 2010, an interview with Reese was reprinted in Pure Imagination's
Wild Wood
.
Awards
[
edit
]
- Shazam Award
for Best Inker (Humor Division) in 1973 and 1974.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- One Year Affair
(Workman, 1976)
- Nightshade Book One: Terror, Inc.
(Pyramid, 1976)
- The Ray Bradbury Chronicles
, Volume two (NBM, 1992)
- The Secret Life of Cats
(Collier Macmillan, 1982)
- Trouilles Noires
(Triton, 1979)
- The Wally Wood Treasury
(Pure Imagination, 1980)
- Wild Wood
(Pure Imagination, 2010)
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Arrant, Chris (June 7, 2010).
"Looking Back With LARRY HAMA - Beyond G.I. Joe"
.
Newsarama
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Ralph Reese
at the
Lambiek Comiclopedia
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Ralph Reese
at the
Grand Comics Database
- ^
Gilbert, Michael T.
"Total Control: A Brief Biography of Wally Wood,"
Alter Ego
vol. 3, #8 (Spring 2001)
- ^
a
b
Mark's Very Large
National Lampoon
Site
Archived
2010-04-26 at the
Wayback Machine
(fan site): November 1973, Vol. 1, No. 44: "Character Building Comics" by
Gerald Sussman
and
Henry Beard
; illustrated by Fran Hollidge and Ralph Reese; "Eddie Bean Down-filled Catalog, 1973-74" by Gerald Sussman; illustrated by D. Brauti and Ralph Reese; "Funny Pages", including "One Year Affair" (three episodes) by Ralph Reese and
Byron Preiss
- ^
Zimmerman, Dwight Jon.
Comics Interview
#37, 1986.
Archived
2007-10-07 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Underground Comix Joint
- ^
Underground Collectibles
Archived
2012-04-25 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Choose Your Own Adventure
: Books Illustrated by Ralph Reese
Archived
2011-07-18 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Valiant-Related Works by Ralph Reese", Valiantfans.com, n.d.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|