| Ralph Reese | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1949-05-19)May 19, 1949 (age 76) New York City, US |
| Area | Artist,Inker |
| Awards | Shazam Award, 1973, 1974 |
Ralph Reese (born May 19, 1949) is an American artist who has illustrated for books, magazines, trading cards,comic books andcomic strips, including a year drawing theFlash Gordon strip forKing Features. Prolific from the 1960s to the 1990s, he is best known for his collaboration withByron Preiss on the continuing feature "One Year Affair", serialized in thesatiric magazineNational Lampoon from 1973 to 1975 and then collected into a 1976 book.
Reese early in his career worked in the studio ofWally Wood, assisting on both mainstream and alternative-press comics and on trading cards. He went on to do mainlyfantasy andhorror illustrations forscience-fiction magazines and black-and-white horror-comics magazines. He drew many fantasy, horror and science-fiction stories forMarvel Comics,DC Comics andValiant Comics.
Born inNew York City, Reese attended New York'sHigh School of Art and Design. He was in the same graduating class asLarry Hama andFrank Brunner.[1]
While still an art student in 1966, Reese began his career at age 16 as an assistant to artistWally Wood,[2] who became a dominant influence on Reese's art.
Reese contributed to various Wood projects, includingToppstrading cards,DC Comics stories and Wood'sindependent comics. His first confirmed comics work is an illustration for a one-page text story, "...And Thereby Hangs A Tale...", inwitzend #1 (Summer 1966). His first comics story was co-penciling and co-inking with Wood a 10-pagescience-fiction inHeroes, Inc. Presents Cannon (1969).[3] In 2001, Reese recalled his duties at the Wood's studio:
After a while, I got to keeping his files in order. His file was astounding! He must have had 30 file drawers of clippings, and I kept them in order. I also kept the place in order. When I first met Wally he had been working in the same room for 12 years, so there was a lot of clutter. The first time I saw his studio I couldn't figure out what was hanging from the ceiling. There were all these things with grey felt on them. They turned out to be hundreds of model airplanes on strings, covered with dust.[4]
With the Wood Studio as a launching pad, Reese became a prolific freelancer. In 1969, he did a cover and numerous interior illustrations forGalaxy Science Fiction. For Robert Sproul's Major Publications, he was a regular 1969-70 contributor toWeb of Horror, edited byTerry Bisson. His first confirmed solo comics story credit is as penciler-inker of Bisson's four-page story "The Skin-Eaters' inMajor Publications'Web of Horror #1 (Dec. 1969).[3] He illustrated twoOtto Binder stories inWeb of Horror #2 (Feb. & April 1970).[3]
During the 1970s, Reese's artwork surfaced in a wide variety of publications, fromunderground comics to slickmagazines, includingNational Lampoon[5] andEsquire.[2] He sometimes collaborated withLarry Hama. InComics Interview #37 (1986), Hama recalled working with Reese and Wood:
I guess in 1971 or thereabouts, I was living in Brooklyn and working with Ralph Reese, freelance stuff. I was penciling, and he was inking. We were doing a lot of jobs forNational Lampoon. At the time, Woody was moving to Brooklyn, six to eight blocks from where I lived. In the process of helping him move, he said, "Hey, are you interested in a semi-regular job?" I said sure.[6]
Reese worked from 1972 to 1977 atNeal Adams'Continuity Associates studio at 9 East 48th Street inManhattan.[2] There he became acquainted with a group of freelance artists that includedJack Abel,Sergio Aragones,Dick Giordano,Russ Heath,Bob McLeod,Marshall Rogers,Joe Rubinstein andLynn Varley. At Continuity, Reese and Hama sometimes worked as a team, and they created illustrations for a variety of clients, including theChildren's Television Workshop.[2]
Reese's comic book credits include pages forAcclaim,Byron Preiss,Eclipse Comics,Marvel Comics,Skywald Publications andWarren Publishing.[2] While working in the mainstream, he also contributed to underground titles, includingConspiracy Capers,[7]Drool,[8] and editorJay Lynch'sKitchen Sink Press comicBijou Funnies.[3]
His work for DC Comics included stories forHouse of Mystery,House of Secrets,The Witching Hour andThe Unexpected.[3]
In 1973, Reese illustratedThomas Disch's "The Roaches" for the black-and-whitehorror-comics magazineMonsters Unleashed, published by Marvel'sCurtis Magazinesimprint, and the following year, he continued in a similar vein with art forGerry Conway's story, "The Rats" inHaunt of Horror. With these two stories, featuring extreme close-up drawings of roaches and rats, Reese depicted horror lurking in real-life vermin, and both stories had several reprints.
After he collaborated with Byron Preiss on the feature "One Year Affair" in theNational Lampoon, the two did installments of a follow-up, "Two Year Affair".[5] ForAtlas/Seaboard Comics he drew "Midnight Muse" inDevilina #1 (January 1975). In 1982, Reese teamed withAl Williamson,Dan Green and Carlos Garzon on a comics adaptation of themovieBlade Runner.[2] In 1985, Reese horror stories were reprinted in the two issues ofReese's Pieces (Eclipse). Also during the 1980s, Reese illustrated more than a dozen titles inBantam Books'Choose Your Own Adventure series.[2][9]
In 1989 and 1990, he drew both thedaily andSunday strips ofKing Features'Flash Gordon, scripted byBruce Jones.[2] From 1992 to 1997, he did much work for the comic bookMagnus Robot Fighter and otherValiant Comics series, includingRaj andX-O Manowar.[10] Also in the 1990s, he contributed to severalParadox Press titles:The Big Book of Hoaxes,The Big Book of Freaks,The Big Book of Losers andThe Big Book of Little Criminals.
In 2009, Reese returned to DC with "The Thirteenth Hour" in issue #13 (July 2009) of editor Angela Rufino'sHouse of Mystery revival forVertigo.[3] In 2010, an interview with Reese was reprinted in Pure Imagination'sWild Wood.
