Innocence and Seduction: The Art of Dan DeCarlo

Bill Morrison
Hardcover: 200 pages
Publisher: Fantagraphics

Language: English
ISBN: 1560977108
Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.6 x 0.8 inches

Review by Larry Stanley

Dan DeCarlo was a genius, at least to many of us in the Comic and Art industry. He is the artist who helped develop the look of Archie Comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s, bringing the characters to a more contemporary look and setting up the publisher's house style.
Dan is the generally known as the creator of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats (with the lead character named for his wife), and Cheryl Blossom.
But, even before Archie Dan had a 10-year run on the humor title Millie the Model for Atlas Comics, writing and drawing the adventures of Millie Collins, her redheaded friend and part time enemy Chili Storm and the rest of cast starting with issue #18. DeCarlo also worked on the short-lived Sherry the Showgirl and Showgirls for Atlas.
DeCarlo went to school at Manhattan's Art Students League from 1938 to 1941, when he was called to serve in the U.S. Army. He wound up stationed in Great Britain, where he worked in the motor pool and as a draftsman, and painted company mascots on the noses of airplanes. He also drew a weekly military comic strip.
The story of how he met his wife (according to him) is the stuff of legend. It is also the stuff of many Hollywood movies of the time. Josette Dumont's story was a little different, but no less romantic. In fact, many guys today could learn a thing or two about romance and how to treat a woman from reading about Dan and Josie courtship.
DeCarlo drew freelance pieces for the magazines The Saturday Evening Post and Argosy, as well as publisher Martin Goodman's Humorama line of pin-up girl cartoon digests. You can find many of his Humorama illustrations were published in The Pin-up Art of Dan DeCarlo.
Not only does Innocence and Seduction deal with the good times, it also touches on some of the bad as well.
Reading how happy he was with his twin sons, Dan Jr. and Jim, who assisted their father as inkers and then reading about their deaths was heartbreaking.
The book also includes the story of his fight with Archie over ownership of Josie and the Pussycats characters, which were to be featured in the movie. I will never understand the cruelty displayed by Archie during this time. Right in the middle of the situation, Archie fired Dan. A 40-year relationship destroyed simply because the publisher did not want to share a credit and a little bit of cash with a creator. I'm glad Josie sunk like a stone in a pond.
Dan's final works were a story for Paul Dini's Jingle Belle, and Bongo Comics' The Simpsons TV tie-in comic, Bart Simpson. Because of this treatment, Some people might start reading Bongo Comics' in their support of creative rights and leave off the newer Archie stuff, not that I think that is something to do. But it is a thought some people might want to entertain.
DeCarlo died of pneumonia, according to his wife. There are some press reports floating around that list heart attack as the cause of death. I still wonder if you can die from a broken heart.
His work won him much recognition in the Comics and art industry. Dan was the winner of the National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book in 2000 for Betty & Veronica. He was nominated for the Shazam Award for Best Penciller in 1974.
Now, the book tells the story of a great man and artist. However, it also displays much of the images that prove his genius. Yes, I said it at the start and I am saying it again.
Dan DeCarlo was a genius with a pen. His drawing of his grandfather is so lifelike and filled with the love of a grandchild it is a beauty to see. The family photos are wonderful, and there is photographic proof of where he got the idea for Josie.
Yes, the pin-up girls are here, just not in as much abundance as I would have liked. Same with the older Archie stuff. As far as I am concerned, the whole book could have been DeCarlo's work on Archie. That stuff is still classic and will never go out of style.
But for me, what really, honest to God got to me, were the letters and cartoons he sent to Josie while they were getting to know each other. Truly, the man was a romantic as well.
But most of us geniuses are.
If you are a Dan DeCarlo fan, a fan of older Archie material or you love pin-up art, then do not miss this book. Coffee table sized but easy to hold, beautiful cover, and written by someone who apparently really cares about Dan and his work, Bill Morrison, this is a fantastic book that deserves a place on any future artists bookshelf.