What is this, anyway?

As any reader of Zombie Cat Bacon should know, I like comics. Yes, superheroes are cool and I've been entertained by their antics for most of my life. Living in the Marvel Universe since the early 70's exposed me to countless epic fantasies, and a ton of whahuh? moments. Then in 1993, I stopped, cold turkey.

The art got uglier and uglier. Blame any specific artist you want, but the style of the books pushed me away. Well, at least away from standard superhero stuff. I did stick with the indies, rediscovered the undergrounds, and went down a different path altogether.

After I moved to California in 1995, I had a lot of free time on my hands, being new to the area and not knowing anyone. Wandering around the local library, I discovered a coffee table book on Art Nouveau. Casually leafing through it, I saw the foundations of many of the art styles that a few of the better comics artists were exhibiting, such as P Craig Russell, Barry Windsor-Smith and Mike Kaluta.

Recently, I decided to create a line of t-shirts celebrating these incredible craftsmen from the late 1800's to about 1920. Some may recognize the art itself, fewer might know the artist. Like this from Henri Privat:

Or this from Alphonse Mucha:

Or this from Theophile Steinlen:

Pulpwear is a work in progress, and these affordable t-shirts will celebrate these magnificent artists, as well as some of the finer, and unfortunately mostly forgotten, pulp and comic artists that followed in their wake.

I'll dive into the connections and influences, and hopefully, draw a line (so to speak) from their era to ours. I love this stuff and I hope you'll find something new to you, and fall in love with it like I did.