Dan DeCarlo is best known as the defining artist of Archie Comics, but he pursued other artistic endeavors throughout his storied career. This newly revised art book covers the full spectrum of his artistic output, re-presenting material first collected two decades ago and adding 40 pages of rare illustrations. The biggest departure from his Archie work is more suggestive commercial illustrations and Humorama pinups, with the women showing even more incredible curves and less attire than Bettie and Veronica, but their innocent, cheery faces always signal that DeCarlo is the artist.
Buy Innocence and Seduction: The Art of Dan DeCarlo: Expanded EditionThe newly expanded hardcover book is roughly the same 9” x 12” dimensions as the first edition, making it a suitable bookshelf companion to the original. Of course it’s mostly aimed at fans who missed out on the now-pricey, out-of-print first edition, a welcome arrival here to satisfy a new generation. The 40 new pages are entirely in black and white, comprising a mix of rare pin-ups, covers, splash pages, and even full comic book short stories straight from DeCarlo’s original boards. One of those stories is from Jetta, a failed futuristic comic book that only lasted for three issues, although it seems remarkably similar to The Jetsons cartoon created a decade later.
Writer Bill Morrison is a fellow cartoonist best known for his extensive work on Simpsons Comics, as well as the excellent comic adaptation of The Beatles Yellow Submarine. He’s also a fan and was a friend of DeCarlo, giving him unique insider perspective and access that informed the first edition and facilitated the newly added material. His biography of DeCarlo’s career provides a fascinating look at its many aspects, including DeCarlo’s early comic book work with Stan Lee before Marvel was Marvel, his time working on comic strips, and his commercial illustration output. Sadly, Morrison also details the acrimonious end of DeCarlo’s career with Archie, an all-too-familiar tale of an artist fighting for rights to his creations to no avail.
There’s an inescapable joy and liveliness to DeCarlo’s assured lines throughout his career, as if he was always having fun in life in spite of his uncertain future as a freelancer buffeted by the whims of his publishers. The newly expanded book provides a stellar showcase of his indelible output from a life well lived within the comic book industry and beyond. He may always be remembered first as the “Archie guy”, but the book provides an enlightening look at his full history and his multifaceted career.
