The Pops Gallery: Richard Sala Superheroes!

As someone who has an equal appreciation for superhero comics and what we used to call "alternative comics" (in the 1980s), I've always loved it when the two worlds collide, when an indie cartoonist who grew up loving mainstream comic books dips his pen into the well of nostalgia and draws a distinctive interpretation of some caped crusader. DC Comics' two BIZARRO COMICS / WORLD collections and Marvel's STRANGE TALES I & II (as well as other one-shots and backup stories in books with more adventurous editors) only whetted my appetite for this kind of crossover.

Glaringly omitted from any of the aforementioned titles was one of my favorite cartoonists, Richard Sala. Sala's work melds classic impressionism, vintage storybook illustration, and a whimsical sexuality into a style all his own. Sala's played with lots of genres in his oeuvre, but he hasn't really tackled superheroes.... except in pin-ups and illustrations done as commissions and for his own website, Here Lies Richard Sala. While his first love is monsters and madmen, Sala obviously also has an affinity for superheroes, and for this installment of the Pops Gallery, I've gathered a gallery of some of his amazing illustrations of costumed crimefighters (as well as a bonus pinup of Marvel's quintessential Silver Age Lee/Kirby monster, Fin Fang Foom).

Boy, what I wouldn't give for a full-length Shadow story drawn by Sala....

Sala reinterprets the cover of BATMAN #197 for the COVERED blog.  

Batman plus villains plus naked ladies!

Batman and some rogues (love Sala's version of the Joker)

Marvel's Cloak and Dagger

DC's The Doom Patrol

Marvel's Red Wolf and Tigra

The Shadow

Wonder Woman and some ne'er do wells

Fin Fang Foom! 

The Pops Gallery: LAUGH-IN!

When I was a kid (in the 1960s and '70s), I watched a lot of tee-vee. Cartoons, game shows, sitcoms, old monster movies, afternoon repeats of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, and oh, so much more. Debate over damage done aside, there are certain shows that cemented themselves into my id in such a way that their imagery instantly evokes overwhelming nostalgia. One of those programs was NBC's bizarre melding of vaudeville and counterculture, ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN. Running for six seasons from 1968 to 1973, the sketch comedy show was hosted by two middle aged comedians, Dan Rowan & Dick Martin, overseeing a cast of mostly young, hip comedians and actors including Ruth Buzzi, Judy Carne, Arte Johnson, Alan Sues, Lily Tomlin, Jo Anne Worley, Flip Wilson, and Goldie Hawn (among many others). The mix of painfully corny gags with sometimes subversive content hinting at sex and drugs (I can remember feeling that there was something naughty about what I was watching, even when I didn't understand all of it) created a sensibility that was unforgettably unique.

Here's a Pops Gallery of LAUGH-IN imagery from the era, including examples of the flood of merchandise that the show inspired.