One of my favorite artists has always been Murphy Anderson. He was a classic illustrator whose work was seen everywhere by ‘60s comic fans. He was always adding a level of class and professionalism to comics. And beyond that, we’d often see his work on packaging for licensed products (Captain Action) and ads (Children’s Television Workshop).

I’m not sure if he got bit by the entrepreneurial bug when he was a student at the University of North Carolina (yes, he was a Tarheel), but in the ‘70s he did pivot and established Murphy Anderson Visual Concepts. This start-up provided color separations for the comic industry for many years.

As both a person and an artist, he always had the polish and elegance of a 1960s Chamber of Commerce meeting. He could draw superheroes and dynamic action, but his bad guys would have these wonderfully tailored and pressed suits. How crazy to imagine a villain putting a tie before he robbed a bank? But… that’s what so many of Murphy Anderson’s villains did.

That was branding you’d get from Murphy as a professional. He was always immaculately dressed and he took “looking proper” very seriously.

To many of us, Murphy Anderson seemed too gentlemanly to draw sexy women. He was proper and upstanding as a person, and his art reflected that. On the other hand, anyone who read DC’s John Carter or Weird Worlds series and saw Murphy’s version of Dejah Thoris or Thuvia would strongly disagree with that statement.

With that in mind, I just had to share a few wonderfully sexy images from PS Magazine. (I bought these at ITHACON in April.) In case you never heard of it, PS Magazine was a digest sized magazine that was distributed to the troops in order to help educate them on all the tasks at hand. By asking a top comic talent like Murphy Anderson (and Joe Kubert before him) to mastermind this magazine’s creation on a monthly basis, was genius. What better way to ensure it got read?

I’m not exactly blushing, but I am pleasantly surprised, and genuinely impressed by these PS Illustrations from Murphy. He was never prurient or salacious, but in these illustration it did look like he was having some fun and offering ‘70s service men some cheerful images. Comic fans don’t generally get opportunities to see Murphy Anderson’s PS work – but they really should.

* * *
There’s a story that’s breaking, although it’s been talked about for many weeks, about the Filip Sablik’s new venture. It looks like he’s shifting into start-up mode for a new publishing venture with some other industry vets. More on this here. Sablik is a great guy, but more than that, it’s easy to see he’s a superior leading and a disciplined businessperson. I can’t wait to learn more about this and wish him all the luck in the world.