365 Days with the Warriors Three, Day 101

Pal Shane M. Bailey sent me a scan of today's 365 Days with the Warriors Three: one of my favorite W3 ilustration of all time, from the prolific pencil and pen of Charles Vess:


Page from Amazing Heroes #138 (Second Annual Swimsuit Issue) (April 1, 1988), pencils and inks by Charles Vess

Amazing Heroes captions the illustration: "CHARLES VESS pays tribute to a great illustrator and a great Lee/Kirby set of characters all at once." A few issues later a reader write in to correct the blurber: James Branch Cabell (rhymes with rabble, not Ma Bell) was a fantasy author, not an illustrator. His books include Jurgen, The High Place, The Cream of the Jest and, most important (for our purposes) Figures of Earth. Pig-herder Manuel (don't mind him, he's from Poictesme), who learns to sculpt figures of earth (hey! We have a title!) and to bring them to life. At least, I think that's the reference here. Besides getting Hogun into a Speedo, of course.

Ballantine Books repackaged several of the Cabell novels in the late 1970s. Publishers were scrambling then to capitalize on the surging popular of fantasy novels in the wake of the success of Terry Brooks's The Sword of Shannara. I had 'em and read 'em, but I can't tell you a thing that happened in 'em, I'm afraid to say. (Then again, the same is true of The Sword of Shannara.) They were a little high-literary for this tiny stuffed bull at the time, but one of these days I may tackle 'em again. Poictesme (pronounced "pwa-tem", not, as I pronounced it as a tiny s.b., "poik-TEZ-mee.") is a rich background loosely based on southern France, but with some great political and social satire as well as derring-do and deep thoughts. And hey, any fantasy series with a cool map earns points in my book, I always say.


Map of Poictesme by Peter Koch (1928), reprinted in the 1970s reissues of the Cabell books by Ballantine. Higher resolution map at Wikipedia.

All of which is to send you off for further reading: you can pick up most of the Cabell titles as free ebooks or online texts, or treat yourself to a used copy of one or another. You should also definitely get yourself Modern Masters: Charles Vess, in which the above Warriors Three illo (plus a cartload more) are reprinted alongside interviews with Mister V. Finally, Thor: The Warriors Three reprints Marvel Fanfare #13 and #34-37, some wonderful Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg tales by Vess.



I also highly recommend the Asgardian adventure The Raven Banner, with art by Vess. It's sadly out of print. C'mon, Marvel, give us a Marvel Masterworks: Charles Vess with Raven Banner, Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth, Amazing Spider-Man #277, and...um...well...hmmm...well, Vess did cover illustrations and pin-ups for Marvel of Thor, Daredevil, X-Men, Cloak and Dagger, Prince Valiant, and even Transformers and Hook:





So, in short: Charles Vess: one of the finest artists of Midgard*.


*Earth.