Numen-Deus TREASURE : THE FATEFUL PEN

(HB pencil on 85mm x 50mm card)

- NOT AVAILABLE-

 

Using the ink of your own blood, this pen allows you to write your own destiny. Anything that you write for yourself will come to pass, no matter how obscure or strange it may be.

Even in the hands of the mindful, it has the power to corrupt. For the author who dictates their own life story has no life at all, and no story to tell. In the end, they become nothing but victims of their own deep, dark, perversions.

We should remember what Numen-Deus tries to tell us:

 

"ALL DESIRES DEMAND THEIR OWN PRICE"

Hammered

(Black biro on a 125mm x 75mm notecard)

- NOT AVAILABLE - 

Another image of an everyday phrase juxtaposed onto a comic-book style frame. In this case it's the kind of phrase that you hear on a bus when someone's on their phone. That's if they're not texting it.

If you're the type of person that does receive calls on buses in which you know you're going to have to say something like: "I'm on the bus...I'll be about ten minutes" and you hate doing that, then please feel free to attach the above image as a response to your annoying little caller to save you the humiliation of saying it out loud.

WIZBANG! The Triplejack Gun

(2B pencil on A6 card)

 - NOT AVAILABLE - 

Anything that remotely hinted at some kind of weapon which could be use on others was siezed upon with the old comic-book ads. Things like airguns tended to be seen in the much older Boys' Own papers and you rarely saw such things in comics.

 

This piece shows the kind of thing that kids would have loved. What nasty little child wouldn't want something that made others pewk, piss and shit themselves at the same time?

WIZBANG! Pocket Atom Bomb

(2B pencil on a 139mm x 87mm postcard)

 

One of the better products you were able to get from comic book ads was the Exploding Army Hand Grenade. It wasn't a full-sized one and was a bit crude looking (nothing like the picture) but it was pretty good in the way you could load caps into it. In this Wizbang! advert, I've spoofed that by having it as a pocket atom bomb that kids can have fun totally destroying their neighbourhoods with.

WIZBANG! Pet Demon

(2B pencil on a 139mm x 87mm postcard)

- NOT AVAILABLE - 

Even pets were not immune to comic-book ads and there were quite a few different ones, whether it was the now infamous sea monkeys, or even squirrel monkeys (which were a real con, because you actually did get nothing for your money). As with other items that were advertised, they were sold as something wonderful and exotic, when they were really very mundane (sea monkeys were just brine shrimp).

 

With these Wizbang ads, I decided to reference them with an advert selling everything you could possibly need to grow your own little pet demon. A strange DIY kit that would probably sell well if it was advertised.

WIZBANG! Death-Ray Specs

(2B pencil on a 139mm x 87mm postcard)

 

Of all the comic-book ads which existed, the one that most tend to remember are the iconic "X-Ray Specs" ones. The original adverts tended to show the same character looking at the bones in their hand, or looking through the dress of a woman. It was responsible for many a child parting with their pocket money and was something of a catalyst in introducing them to this strange world of bullshit comic-book ads. I chose to spoof it here and kept the artwork for it very basic.

Merry Christmas 2015 - Chaos Eve

(2B pencil on a 141mm x 103mm postcard)

 

"Black Friday? Super Saturday? These were nothing but feeble side shows compared to the utter blood-thirsty carnage that has become Chaos Eve. That one, last, desperate shopping day before Christmas where real bargains were there for the taking, if you were ruthless enough..."

 

Like the Santa Clause artwork I did last year, this was put on the front of a Christmas card I printed out and gave to various people. Unlike the last one, extra pages had to be stapled in to fit the following delightful seasonal tale of the joys of Christmas shopping:

 



 

 

(Just click on one and you should be able to scroll through them all)

 



WIZBANG! Star Portal

(2B pencil on a 139mm x 87mm postcard)

  - NOT AVAILABLE -

As I remember, the original small-ads were very crude in their appearance, so the rough nature you see in the ones I've done do match that. This is helped by doing them with a simple 2B pencil, which gives them that rough "letterpress" feel that the original adverts once had. So it's fortunate that I didn't choose a fineliner, because I don't think they would have looked as good.

WIZBANG! Mind Probe

(2B pencil on a 139mm x 87mm postcard)

  - NOT AVAILABLE -

The old comic-book adverts were something of a phenomenon that many have fond memories of. They instilled a sense of wonder in the kids that fell under their spell, and even though what they received through the post fell way short of their expectations, they still sent off for more. Ad agencies today can only drool at the way these small ads captured the imagination of the young, knowing they could never get away with anything like that now, not without spending some time in prison.

 

In this artwork, I've created a fictional company called WIZBANG! as usually these small ads were from the same company who used different names. In this case, it's a strange company that creates genuine items like the mind probe and sells them cheaply.

 

And just a note: Don't send any money to the address in the ad, unless you're really stupid, because I doubt you'll receive anything back. If you do, it won't be what you expect. Pretty much like the original comic-book ads themselves!

The One-Eyed Man Is King

(Red biro on a 139mm x 89mm postcard)

- NOT AVAILABLE -

When technology is so prolific and beyond the comprehension of many, it can easily intrude on our everyday lives, whether we like it or not. And when this happens, the one-eyed man is truly king.

I thought I'd enter this into the Guardian's online "A to Z of Art" which they ran in December of this year. It got chosen (and I think published in the newspaper). Here's the link to their page:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/jan/04/smash-the-system-your-art-on-the-theme-of-disruption-in-pictures

Glad someone else thought it was good :)