Scorchy Smith And The Art Of Noel Sickles Hardcover – July 30, 2008

Noel Sickles never really had any great ambition to be a comic strip cartoonist, but nonetheless ended up being one of the most influential of the 20th century.

Scorchy Smith was an awful Associated Press aviation adventure strip penned by John Terry. Sickles called Terry the worst cartoonist ever, and he wasn't exaggerating much. When Terry became ill Sickles was given the thankless task of ghosting the strip in that horrible 'style'. Luckily for Sickles the ghosting period didn't last long, as Terry soon died. Sickles was then given free rein to experiment, and in the process he revolutionized the way adventure strips are drawn. Sickles is credited with popularizing the chiarascuro technique for adventure comic strips, a style that his buddy Milton Caniff more famously appropriated for his Terry and the Pirates. Sickles experimented endlessly in Scorchy, and this volume shows Sickles playing with various techniques, changing the look of the strip practically on a week by week basis.

Little fanfare has been given to Sickles writing talents. He famously disliked the process of writing the strip, and I expected therefore to have a hard slog reading through his entire three year stint. However, I was gratified to find that Sickles' writing was far better than I had been led to expect. His stories make good internal sense, a basic factor lacking in some highly celebrated strips, and one that keeps me from enjoying many adventure strips. His plots, according to essayist Bruce Canwell often loose adaptations of his favorite western movies, are entertaining and solid. His story pacing, especially after he became more comfortable with his assignment, is unhurried and full of little details, a refreshing change from the frenetic pace maintained by much of his competition. About the only oddity in the stories, and I'm surprised that his editors let him get away with it, is that aviation, the raison d'etre of the strip, is noticeably absent. While strips like Tailspin Tommy strictly constructed their stories around flying, Sickles' Scorchy stories rarely use the aviation angle in any meaningful way. Sometimes the only flying that happens is in the segue from one story to the next. The stories are better off, though, because the slavish imperative of sticking to genre makes strips like Tailspin Tommy quite a bore for those not fascinated by wind shear and the latest advances in de-icers.

The reproduction of the strips is miraculously excellent if I assume correctly that tearsheets had to be used as source material. The smaller papers that tended to use the Associated Press features seldom had excellent print quality, but the strips here look fantastic. Even the zipatone, very hard to reproduce well from tearsheets, is clear and sharp. I doff my Photoshopping hat to the work of the restorer on this project.

The book is a giant, weighing in at a whopping seven pounds. Not only do we get the complete Sickles run on Scorchy (plus a little of Terry and Christman to pad out story arcs) but there is an exhaustive biographical essay by Bruce Canwell. It is accompanied by an incredible array of Sickles work all the way from rare early pieces to his later commercial and fine art work. This section of the book, comprising over 130 pages, could easily have been published on its own to rave reviews from Sickles fans.

My book arrived yesterday and I can't put it down, drinking the illustrations and the encyclopaedic but not tedious notes. I was initially put off by the 2 negative reviews on the bindings and almost didn't buy it. If there was an alternative, ... but luckily for me, there wasn't and hence my purchase. And got the reverse of buyer's remorse (buyer's orgasm? :) )

Pros: The book is very thick, with nice color prints, descriptive commentary etc. Plenty of Sickles's work, from early teenager works to master illustrations. Pages of good, glossy/artsy material. Binding seems OK (stitched and not glued papers).

Cons: The binding is not bad, contrary to the -ve reviews. However, the 1st and last pages which contact the covers are tearing apart (not completely but showing signs of weakness) as the material for these pages seems brittle and lack tensile strength.
It's easily solved with a strong tape (not scotch tape but book/shipping or transparent duct tape (for the width)). It should not detract anyone from buying the book. It's a very, very minor problem compared to it's wonderful content.

BTW, in retrospect, even if the book comes with torn out covers, it would have been a great buy. I'm not even going to deduct a star.

Over the years, Amazon's "Recommendations for You" feature has done a great job of convincing me to buy things that I never even knew existed. "Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles" is an excellent example of this.

I had never even heard of the artist or the comic strip when Amazon first recommended "Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles." Obviously triggered by my purchases of Milton Caniff's outstanding "Terry and the Pirates" series, the recommendation was at first not one that I seriously considered. Who was this guy "Sickles," anyway? However, the unanimously great reviews of "Scorchy," some by people who seemed to be very knowledgeable about the subject, convinced me to give it a try. I placed my order without really knowing what to expect.

All I can say is "Wow!" This book is absolutely fantastic! Other reviewers have mentioned the content, quality and production values, and I can only echo their sentiments. About the first third covers Noel Sickles' biography, including many samples of his astonishing work as an illustrator of western, historical, nautical, military and commercial subjects. The breadth of his amazing career is well represented in hundreds of sharp black-and-white and color images on thick, semi-glossy paper. As I did, you will probably recognize some of his old advertising work even though you did not know he was the artist. The rest of the book chronicles the globe-trotting adventures of aviator Scorchy Smith during the time Sickles drew the strip in the mid-1930s. It's interesting to see how Sickles' style evolved and improved over the years, and it's clear that he and Milton Caniff influenced each other tremendously.

Bottom line--buy this book! If you have the slightest interest in the old classic adventure comic strips and want to see some of the best examples of the genre, as well as stunning illustrations of a variety of subjects by a true master in the field, you can't pass it up. I give "Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles" the highest possible recommendation.

Virtually self-taught, Noel Sickles is as fine a draughtsman as the "golden age" of magazine illustration - not to forget comic books - produced. His fluid yet crisp delineation, inspired use of black, and dead-on composition makes every example in this book a valuable tutorial. I was in awe as I turned the pages for the first time...and the second...and the third. It's a "coffee table book," a text book, and a deserved tribute all in one. As an accomplished artist I take no risk in calling Noel Sickles an "artist's artist."

LOAC knocks it out of the park AGAIN. Consistently one of the best publishers of classic strips out there in the comics landscape. LOVE this book!!!!!