Continuing Visions of Lorelei, a 13-part artistic event that celebrates the recent publication of Lorelei: Sects and the City, a Mature Readers graphic novel that reintroduces the soul-stealing succubus.
A bit of an odd story to go with this one.
In 1991, I’d just published my second Lorelei digest-sized comic, this one with a cover by Ghost Rider, Werewolf by Night, and first Vampirella artist Tom Sutton (from whom I’d bought original Ghost Rider pages and a commissioned Vampi sketch). I was so thrilled to see a real, professional artist interpret Lorelei that I wanted to see what others might do (this was before Dave Simons drew my first-ever Lori convention sketch).
(Note: That Sutton drawing now appears as the frontispiece of Lorelei: Sects and the City.)
Well, one day I go into a local newspaper vendor and as I’m paying for the latest Fangoria, my eye drifts down to the wooden board stretched along the bottom of the sales counter, where the owner stacked the daily newspapers—as well as the cheap, newsprint porn mags. I don’t remember the name of the rag, but what had caught my eye was the bondage art on the front page, featuring women with overly glossy lips and huge boobs. I know that style, I thought, and picked it up. The artist’s signature at the bottom of the piece clued me in.
Bill Ward.
Wait—the same Bill Ward who created the forties “good girl” comic character Torchy? The one who drew the Nanny Dickering comic strips for Cracked magazine? He was doing porn comics, now? Holy crap. That seemed . . . unusual for somebody with his talent.
(Then again, maybe not so unusual. By the time I got around to approaching Sutton about working on the relaunched Lorelei series, he’d spent years doing porn titles for Eros Comix, under the name Dementia. When I asked him for recent art samples . . . well, that was sure an eye-opener!)
Just as surprising was that, right below the editorial information on page 2, there was an ad offering Ward’s services for commissions—with his home address listed! So of course I contacted him. 😀
I think he was surprised I was requesting a non-porn image—I mean, look at where I found his contact info—but once I showed him Sutton’s cover for the Lorelei mini he said he’d be happy to do a drawing for my collection. Imagine my surprise when I opened the package and found a fantastic painting on 11×17 art paper—done for the same price you’d have to pay a lot of mainstream artists for a convention sketch.
And of course, it being a Ward piece, Lori became the recipient of a generous grant from the Chest Fairy Endowment Fund. 😀 Well, what would you expect from Torchy’s creator?
